MapleStory Academy
by LiddoAiren
Summary: A new year, a new school, and a new life. These students will live their lives through the good and the bad of their four memorable years. It is said that high school becomes what you make of it, so what will this one student make it to be?
1. The summer before

**Alrighty folks, here it is! Rewritten with new characters, new interactions and a new story line!**

 **Some things to note:**

 **1\. NOT EVERY CHARACTER IN MAPLE STORY WILL MAKE BE PRESENT IN THE STORY. ANY CHARACTERS NOT IN THIS STORY WILL BE IN ANOTHER STORY I WILL WRITE.**

 **2\. AS OF NOW THERE ARE 4 OC's. I DO NOT KNOW WHETHER OR NOT I'LL ADD MORE. IF I DO, THEY WILL NOT HAVE A MAJOR ROLE IN THE STORY.**

 **3\. SOME CHAPTERS WILL INCLUDE READER INTERACTION! THAT MEANS THERE WILL BE CHOICES THAT YOU READERS WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE FOR SEVERAL CHARACTERS WHICH WILL AFFECT THE STORY WHETHER BIG OR SMALL. IF YOU WISH TO LEAVE INPUT PLEASE REVIEW OR PM ME! IF THERE ARE NO REVIEWS OR PM'S, I SHALL CONTINUE WITH THE INPUT OF MY OWN CHOICE.**

 **Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any property from MapleStory. All of Maplestory belongs to Nexon and Wizet. All I own are my OC's.**

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" **Trường, con có** **làm** **gọn** **mấy cái** **ghế sofa trong phòng khách chưa**?" (Aaron, did you organize the sofas in the living room yet?)

" **Dạ rồi** " (Yes, I did.) I huffed, finally relieved that we were done with house decorations, the last step in moving to our new home. I took a deep breath and walked around our new house, taking in the surroundings. Two stories, clean, carpeted floor, large kitchen and a bedroom each for me, dad, and my little sister Rose. It was an infinite amount of times nicer than the other homes that we had lived in in the past, where sometimes space was scarce, kitchens were rusty, and sometimes there was only one bedroom to accommodate all of us. Speaking of Rose, I went to check on her in her room to see what she was doing.

Upon reaching her open room, I saw her lying face down on her coverless mattress. Heh, poor girl, she was probably tired from all the excitement of moving and travelling. I gave her a quick peck on the head before heading back down to see how dad was doing after lifting much of the furniture. To my lack of surprise, he was still in the garage, in his sweaty T-shirt while bouncing a soccer ball with his feet. Typical dad, he was never the type of guy to sit still if he had the opportunity to stay active.

Despite walking in front of him, dad still continued bouncing the ball without acknowledging my presence.

"How long have you been at that?" I asked.

" **Không lâu lắm đâu. Khoảng hai phút thôi.** " (Not for too long. About two minutes.)

I stuck out my leg right above his to intercept the ball and bounce it on my own feet, but I guess dad anticipated my move, since he kicked the ball a little harder for it to fly higher and land on his head, only to let it down immediately after and continued bouncing it.

The process repeated three more times until I finally gave up on stealing the ball and just sat down on the floor and counted the bounces.

"With that attitude, you'll never make the soccer team at your new school, **Trường**!"

"Oh come on, **con còn mệt vì con đem vô** **nhiều** **bàn ghế rồi!** And who said anything about me joining the soccer team?" (I'm still tired from carrying all the heavy furniture into the house!)

"Oh don't complain, it's not like you're the only one who carried the heavy stuff. Anyway…" The bouncing ceased as dad bent his foot upward, trapping the soccer ball between his foot and leg. "Did you let Joe know that we've arrived yet? I'm sure he'll be happy to see us again. You especially."

" **Chưa, chưa. Để con lấy điện thoại…** " (Not yet, let me get my phone…)

I dug into my pocket and pulled out my Android. Tapping the name, "Emmie" , which was just a nickname and not his real name, from my contacts list, I started to type.

 _Hey man, just got done arranging the furniture. You around?_

Less than a minute later, my phone vibrated.

 _Hey, that's awesome! I'll come over ASAP! Where's your house?_

Joe had been my friend ever since kindergarten. We bonded over our love of soccer, which at the time was just us kicking a ball around until we had joined a youth team. We'd often go to each other's houses after school just to play some video games and soccer and even have sleepovers occasionally. By the time were were in sixth grade, because my dad had switched jobs, I had to move away, but Joe and I still stayed in contact through some phone calls, summer visits, emails, and finally text. This year, thanks to my dad's new job, we would be neighbors and attending the same school again.

"Yo, Ronnie!"

I sighed upon hearing that name from that voice again. Ronnie was the nickname I was given by Joe, taken from the "-ron" in my real name, which was Aaron.

"Oh! Joe **tới rồi.** " Dad said, waving as he walked over to our garage." (Joe has come.)

" **Dạ, con chào chú**!" (Formal Vietnamese greeting to a male adult) Joe said in accented Viet, shaking dad's hand and giving him a one-armed hug.

"Hey, how are you doing? It's nice that you still remember some Viet!" Dad laughed.

"I'm doing good! Even better now, knowing that you guys are here. Sup, Ronnie?!" Joe wasted no time in approaching me as we slapped the front and back of each other's hands and fist bumped.

"Nothing much. Just settled in. You?"

"Haven't been doing anything much either. Just been playing soccer by myself on the fields and running around the neighborhood. That and I've been preparing for the orientation. Speaking of which, you ready? Mentally that is."

" **Oh! Đừng quên nhe, tuần sau con sẽ có orientation cho trường học!** " (Oh, don't forget that you have your high school orientation next week!) Dad chimed in.

"Yeah I got it."

"Oh you're going to orientation next week too? Awesome! So am I, and that's the first orientation session too! We'll be the first ones to select our classes!" Joe exclaimed.

"Really? Alrighty then, cool."

"Oh and while we're on the topic of school, why don't I show you the campus? It's pretty big, and the last thing you want to do is get lost. Is that alright, **chú**?" (sir?)

"Sure thing." Dad smiled at us. "Just be careful safe alright you two?"

"No problem." I said, while Joe saluted.

"Just let me change out of my sweaty T-shirt first…"

...

While I changed, Joe went over to his house and grabbed his own soccer ball. Once we were ready, we headed off to the campus, which was about a twenty minute walk away from my new home. Finally seeing a series of tall buildings behind two pillars, I couldn't help but marvel.

"Whoa…"

"Nice isn't it, Ronnie?"

"I feel like 'nice' would be an understatement…"

Fountains surrounded by women holding hourglasses, curved, tall lamps, several gardens filled with a variety of flowers and trees along with freshly cut grass, and stone walkways leading to several buildings several stories high all stood behind the pillars.

"Welcome to MapleStory Academy, home of the Maplers. Whatever 'Maplers' are…" Joe said.

"...Are you sure this is a high school?" I asked. "Seriously, never before have I ever seen a high school campus look this big. Heck, this looks just like a college campus!"

"Haha, doesn't it?" he laughed, "I had the same reaction when I saw it for myself. Apparently, a whole bunch of students from around the world attend this school because of its highly-ranked education and extracurricular activities programs. Most students who attend here come from wealthy families or have made it big themselves, but there are some students like you and me who have been accepted to this school through scholarships. Guess we're the lucky ones, huh? Commoners being able to hang around all the rich kids, hahaha!"

"You, a commoner? Give me a break. Your parents are super rich. Isn't your dad the CEO of El Nath Inc.?"

"Well yeah, but it's not like I make what he earns. I mean, sure we already paid off the house and all, but-"

"Yeah, you can stop right there. Your house has already been paid for. And seeing as how you've only lived here for...what, a year? Stop trying to act humble man. You're rich just like them."

"Me? Naaawwwww. I mean, my parents give me money monthly to buy food and water but not much else."

"Yeah, okay. Are we going to stop here or are we going in?" I asked.

Joe then dropped his soccer ball to the ground and started bouncing it with his foot.

"How about we race to the stadium of the school? It's where the football, lacrosse and soccer games take place. The one who manages to keep the ball for the longest time while running there wins. Aaaannnndddddd...GO!"

"Hey wait that's cheating! I don't even know the way there! Come on, man!"

The run to the stadium took longer than I expected. Numerous turns and long runs were taken before we finally reached the structure. By the time we had reached the stadium, both of us were already breathing hard with Joe arriving first and keeping the ball the entire time. He seemed to know the area more than I did of course, so I had no choice but to let him win.

"Whew! Good exercise! Come to think of it...you've never outrun me before...have you?" Joe asked, panting.

"No...but that was because I was fat and we were in elementary school then. I've been running more of course." I said, noticing that I wasn't panting half as hard as he was. Heh, guess all that exercise and weight loss paid off.

"Right...huuuuuffff*...well, here we are. The stadium."

Behind Joe was a massive oval-shaped building, bigger than any high school stadium I'd ever seen based on pictures, and probably as big as stadiums for professional sports teams. Inside was a big field that looked like it had been freshly cleaned. Around it were rows and rows of seats.

"Wow, what's the maximum occupancy of this thing?" I asked, taking in the scene.

"Not really sure. But one thing I do know is that the school has an average attendance of about fourteen thousand students including us, who are coming in next year so…"

"...This is a high school right? Not a college or anything?"

"Nah. Don't worry man, you're in the right place. Hahaha!" Joe laughed, "Anyway, wanna go for a game?"

"Huh? But I just changed my shirt!"

"Just change into another one after! I mean, you were already sweating when we ran here anyway!"

"Alright, alright…"

"Awesome! Let's let the football goal post be our net. First one to reach ten goals?"

"You're on."

...

"Whew! Nice game!"

The score was seven goals to ten, the ten belonging to Joe. I didn't know how long the game had lasted, but by the time the game was done, my shirt was covered in sweat and it was already becoming dark. We then sat by the goalpost to catch our breath before heading back home. While on our way back we reminisced about elementary school and talked about our middle school experiences.

"You asked her out to the dance? Did she say yes?"

"Believe it or not, yeah! I at first thought she'd reject me because we had a rocky start to our relationship, but she said yes and said that she wanted to do it again in the future! Crazy, right?"

"Did you guys get together afterwards?"

"Pshh, nah. Come on Ronnie, we were just eighth graders! Who gets together that young?"

"Trust me man, you'd be surprised."

"What about you? Did you ask anybody out to any dances?"

"Come on man. You know how I looked during my early eighth grade year. There's no way anybody would've said yes! I didn't go to any dances either."

"Well you lost a whole bunch of weight now."

"But that was then and this is now. Anyway, so where's that girl now. Is she attending the same school as us?"

"Actually she'll be attending Seoul's Private School for the Gifted, which isn't too far from our school."

"Ohh, so you guys still keep in contact, huh?"

"Oh stop it, man."

Good times.

"Alright Ronnie, I'll see you tomorrow and during orientation. You up for another game sometime?" he asked.

"Sure. It's better than just running every day. I'll see you later, Joe." I replied. Knocking on the door, it took a few seconds wait before Rose finally opened it.

"Hi **anh hai**!" she exclaimed as she hugged me. Seeing that I was able to get into the house, Joe walked home on his own. ( **anh hai=** eldest sibling who is a brother, but for the sake of convenience, we'll just call it "big brother")

" **Anh đó là ai vậy**?" (Who was that?) she asked.

" **Đó là Joe. Joe là bạn của anh hai khi anh hai còn nhỏ**." (That was Joe. Joe was my childhood friend.)

"Oh, okay! **Anh hai** , I'm hungry!"

"Alright then, I'll make something…"

" **Thôi đi con. Đừng nấu gì.** We'll go out to eat later. We didn't even finish setting up the kitchen anyway." (Forget it. Don't cook anything.)

Suddenly dad came out from the hallway wearing nothing but an undershirt and a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Yay!" Rose cheered.

"Just showered?" I asked.

"Yup. Had fun with Joe?"

"Yeah. Anyway, I'll go shower then."

" **Mau lên nhé. Đừng lam cho** **An Nhiên** **dợi** **.** And try to avoid speaking English at home." (Hurry up. Don't let Rose wait.)

Oh typical dad. Always wanting me to speak the language of our motherland at home...

"Alright, alright…"

" **Nói tiếng việt!** " (Speak Vietnamese!)

" **Dạ...** " (Yes…)

* * *

 **Some info on my characters! (Will be posting one per chapter)**

 **Name: Aaron Le**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Birthdate: December 24**

 **Age: 14-15**

 **Height: 5 feet 10 inches.**

 **Interests: Sports, working out, video games, socializing,** **sleeping,** **reading manga, playing with his sister,** **internet surfing, finding new music to listen to.**

 **Hobbies: Soccer, playing video games.**

 **Strongest Subject: Science**

 **Favorite Food: Bánh ướt**

 **Favorite Bands: Orangutanz, Hyperventilate! at the Nightclub, Rise In Boy, Twelve Sailors, The Taxi, TWO OK ROCK.**

 **More interesting info: When he was younger, his parents encouraged him to always finish his meals, so he always ate everything that was on his plate even if it was too much for him. Soon, he gained lots of weight and was often physically and verbally bullied by fellow students because of his huge size, although amounts of bullying varied between schools. One day when he came home injured, his dad decided to teach him how to fight and defend himself. Sparring sessions took place every day and eventually Aaron started developing more strength and faster reflexes. Because he began to fight back, bullies started to back off and he was able to live a more comfortable school life. His final confrontation with bullies involved pencils and pocket knives and it was only thanks to his reflexes and father's intervention that he managed to win the fight, although he received several scars on his body. His father also encouraged him to work out in order to lose weight and gave him meal plans and exercise routines that Aaron follows even to the present. A typical day consists of 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, 50 squats, a 5 km run, and sometimes a soccer game with dad. He eventually started losing lots of body weight and shrunk several clothes sizes, which made him more confident in himself and his looks.**

 **He also really likes drinking milk.**


	2. Orientation

**Sorry for the long absence, college has been kicking my butt. Anyway, please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

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The next week was spent with our family settling into our new home. I then started scanning the perimeter of the neighborhood to map out the route for my daily runs. Once we had settled, Joe and I then spent the majority of our time playing soccer with dad and Rose watching. While we took breaks, dad and Rose would then play around with the ball. This continued until it the day of orientation came.

"Okay, so pencil and notebook, check. Rosary, check. Perfect"

As I slung my single-strapped bag over my shoulder, I heard a knock on the door.

" **Trường ơi, con sửa soạn xong chưa**? Joe **tới rồi** " (Aaron, are you done preparing yet? Joe's already here.) I heard dad say.

" **Dạ rồi**. Just let me close my bad first…" (I'm done.) After closing and sealing my bag, changed out of my undershirt and polyester shorts and into a red polo shirt and jeans. I then hurried out to the door, where Rose, dad and Joe were standing. Seeing me, he waved his hand.

"Yo Ronnie! Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, just let me put on my shoes." Hurriedly putting on my shoes, I then said my goodbyes to Rose and dad before heading out.

"You excited, Ronnie?" Joe asked, as we walked.

"I guess? I'm a little more anxious than anything. I know pretty much nobody here besides you." I replied.

"I'm not that much different either. I only know you and a few other people who are going to this school. I mean, it's better than not knowing anybody, right?"

"That's true. Anyway, we should hurry. We wouldn't want to be late to the orientation."

"Don't worry about it, man. We left thirty minutes early! It won't take us fifteen minutes just to walk to school."

"But what if people have already arrived? What if we don't get to choose the early time we want to start school?"

"...Man, you really haven't changed. Even now you still worry over some crazy things." Joe then laughed. "Like I said, chill out man! We're attending the first orientation session! There will be six more after this, each with different groups of students! I'm sure we'll get the early classes we want. It's not like everybody wants to start school at seven o'clock like you anyway."

"Yeah, I guess that's true. So do you know anyone going to this orientation session today besides me?"

"Yeah. Some much all of my friends from middle school are going today, and some will be here during the second session. We didn't want to be the last ones to choose our classes after all. I'll introduce you to them if we ever see them!"

"Alright, cool."

Surprisingly, the walk to the school was quicker than I expected. It was almost as quick as how it was when we jogged to the school. Nevertheless, despite us being early, there were already limousines parked outside of the school. From the limousines, many people who looked to be around our age stepped out wearing expensive clothing and jewelry.

"This is crazy...I feel like an outsider here." I said.

"Yeah...I knew rich people attended this school, but I didn't expect them to look _this_ rich. Oh well, let's go in."

Everything seemed to be a blur as we walked to the front of auditorium, which was where the orientation was said to start. As we walked, both of us bumped into several students hurrying in the same direction.

"Watch it, loser!" I heard some guy say as he bumped into us.

...

"I guess if they're rich you can expect them to be sassy. Well, not like we expected anything more, right?" Joe sighed.

"I guess not. I just hope I don't have to deal with them for my entire high school career. Are your friends at least better than this?"

"Way better. Speaking of which, I wonder where they are now? Meh, doesn't matter. I'm sure we'll find them eventually during orientation. If not during, then after orientation." As we neared the auditorium, we saw several students lining up in front of upperclassmen holding up signs arranging us into alphabetical order by last name.

"Let's see here, A to F. Since my last name is "Emes", looks like that's my line. Sorry Ronnie, looks like we're separated from here on."

"Yeah...Guess I'll see you later then." I said as he walked away. Well, since my last name was "Le", I then lined up in the "G-L" line, which was right next to the "A-F" line. No sooner had I gotten in line did it quickly elongate. Looking back, I couldn't really see the end to any of the lines. If this was what one orientation session looked like, then I was glad to be part of the first. After about five minutes, our lines started to move forward. Since I wasn't too far from the front of the line, I could see those ahead of me get their pictures taken in front.

"Alrighty, young man. Now eyes towards the lens and smile!"

Come my turn, I followed the cameraman's instructions and waited for the flash of light. Suddenly the machine next to the cameraman started to make some noise and out of it came my ID card. On the card were the school's name and emblem along with my recently-taken picture, name, grade, and ID number. Then walking into the auditorium I noticed rows and rows of cushioned seats face a large stage. Some students took the stairs to sit on the second and third floors. I, like some of the others, opted to stay on the first floor and took a seat in the middle of the middle row. Looking around, I couldn't see Joe anywhere, and before I could save him a seat, the seats next to me rapidly started filling up.

Great. Now I'm surrounded by total strangers.

"Hey there!" Although I didn't recognize the voice, I decided to turn in the direction of its source, just in case I was being addressed. Surely enough, I found myself a target of the eyes of another. He had red eyes and blonde hair and sort of had an air of confidence around him.

"This seat taken?" he asked.

"Uh...nope. It's all yours." I replied. Oh well, I guess Joe was already sitting somewhere else.

"Cool, thanks! Didn't know the first orientation session would be this crowded. Glad I was able to find a seat. Hey Beta, I got you a seat right here!" Immediately after, a girl who looked similar to the guy took the seat next to his.

We were then silent for the next few minutes as more students piled into the auditorium.

"You new here?" I heard him ask.

"Well yeah. I mean, aren't we all?"

"Whoops, sorry. I meant if you had recently moved into the area. I've never seen you around before."

"Yup. I actually moved here about a week ago, but how did you know I wasn't from around the area?" I asked. I had to admit, he was interesting to say the least. I had not said one thing about myself, and yet here he was, assuming things about me that were pretty darn true.

"Well, let's just say you have that kind of air around you. Kinda like one of my other friends. Anyway, sorry about that, let me introduce myself! You can call me Alpha!" he said, as he held out his hand.

"Well, it's not like you can call him anything else anyway," I looked behind the guy in front of me and noticed the girl. "Alpha's his real name."

"Beta, come on, are you really going to do this right now?"

Shaking his hand, I too, introduced myself. "Nice to meet you Alpha, I'm Aaron. And you are…?" I asked, holding out my hand to the girl.

She smiled and shook it. "As stated by my brother, Beta Zero. Younger twin sister of Alpha Zero. Excited to attend a new school?"

"Well, in a way. It's my first time being in such a rich school such as this one. I also have a friend who's also attending here, so it's nice to go to a new school with at least one familiar person, right?"

"That's true. Making friends can be a tad difficult without connections. Well, how about we all start now?"

"Hey, good idea, sis! Why don't we exchange numbers? Mind giving us yours, Aaron?" Alpha said, grabbing out his phone.

Wait, what? To be honest, I wasn't expecting any of this to be happening so fast. First time ever actually, I mean, the fact that someone had requested to be friends with me within seconds of us meeting. But regardless, I couldn't really turn down the offer

"By the way man, are you a scholarship student by any chance?" They asked.

"Yeah, I am. You guys too?"

"Heck yeah! We scholarship students have to stick together, right? We're the only ones who understand where each other come from!"

Upon exchanging numbers, we then waited for the session to start. Not too long after, the lights in the auditorium dimmed, and one single light shined on the stage, revealing two women and one man.

The gray-haired woman in the middle then took the microphone and cleared her throat a few times before speaking.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to MapleStory Academy, home to the proud Maplers! I am your principal, Mrs. Rhinne, and behind me are your vice principals, Mr. Nobunaga, and Mr. Schrodinger! We hope you're enjoying your day so far, because from it's only going to get better from here!"

Mrs. Rhinne then went on to explain the school's rules and consequences for not following them along with the school uniforms and how they must be worn at all times during school hours, and the class requirements all students were to take in order to graduate within four years and to be accepted to one of the top universities, which she believed we were all capable of doing. She then handed the microphone to Mr. Schrodinger, who mostly explained the sports teams of the school, how the teams were in the top league and the pride the students were to carry if they were ever to make it on any of the teams. The microphone was then handed to Mr. Nobunaga, who went over other extracurricular activities such as club activities and job opportunities at the school. Since majority of the clubs at school were well funded, one could expect great experiences and travels within each club. Also, since the school contained many restaurants in the cafeteria, you could work in any of the restaurants as early as your freshman year and make money for yourself.

With the explanations done, we were then split into three groups each led by one of the principals. Alpha and Beta took Mr. Nobunaga's group and I decided to be in Mr. Schrodinger's group and soon we were off. Of course, we visited the training facilities first. Inside the school was a large stadium for the school's basketball and volleyball games and there was even a huge workout room full of weights, treadmills, any kind of device you could think of. Mr. Schrodinger enthusiastically showed us all of the banners on the top, which showed the years that the school had won championships. While he talked, I took notes of what he was saying for future reference.

We were then shown the track and field, where the school's football and soccer games took place. Even though I had already seen it once, it still amazed me with its size and capacity. I couldn't even picture myself sitting in of of the seats surrounded by so many other students. Once the sports facilities were done, Mr. Schrodinger guided us through the school while explaining the purposes for each of the tall buildings, albeit with less enthusiasm as he did while explaining the sports aspects of the school.

"Here in each building, you'll typically see each floor having classes corresponding to the year you are in. For example, let's start with the science building here. On the first floor are freshmen-level classes such as integrated science and biology. On the second floor are sophomore-level classes such as chemistry and physics. Then, on the third and fourth floors are where AP classes are taught along with some other non-AP subjects. Juniors and Seniors are typically spread out between these two floors. Of course there can be some sophomores too, but we can get into that later. Now that's not to say all buildings are oriented the same way. Some have the order inverted, having freshmen take classes at the top while seniors take classes at the bottom, and some can also be in no particular order, but again, that's not really important. Now then, let's move on."

Finally, as we headed out toward one of the lawns of the school, already assembled were several stands with signs and students handing out free items. On the stands were signs that read the names of clubs.

"Finally, we have school clubs. Each club has different features and purposes, but all of them are geared towards enhancing your high school experience. Well, I'll give you all a few minutes to explore for yourselves. After that, then we'll have lunch and you'll then begin registering for classes."

Immediately the crowd dispersed. Walking around the lawn, I noticed several club stands fill up with the students within seconds. Key club, Green club, Archery club, Kendo club, VSA, and many others, along with a stand where you could have your fortune read. Seeing as how they were giving out free ice-cream, I walked over to the Key club stand. After receiving a popsicle from one of the upper classmen, I noticed the sign which contained the club's purpose.

"Community service, huh?" I asked.

"Yup, that's right! Our club's main purpose is to help the community in any way can in the best way possible! We have a variety of events that you can sign up for with different kinds of service you can provide for the community!" One of them replied, "It's not just community service though. We also go to many district conventions where we meet with other key clubs from different schools and engage in spirit competitions! I can guarantee that you'll have some of the most memorable moments of your life by joining this club! Are you interested?"

"I guess it can't hurt. First time for everything, right?"

"That's right! And great! Here, if you could just give us your email, we'll notify you of our first meeting! Hope to see you soon!"

After writing down my email, I then left the stand to explore other clubs. By the time it was over, I had signed up for one more club, VSA. I wanted to explore some more, but I guess that could wait. I still had an entire year after all.

Once again grouping up with Mr. Schrodinger, we made our way into the school cafeteria which, like the all of the other buildings in the school, was giant. Aside from all the clean and fancy chairs covered in cloth everywhere in the building, on the first floor were several fast food restaurants where students could quickly get their food food. On the second floor seemed to be a buffet which seemed to be geared more towards students looking to sit down and enjoy their meals with friends. There were also several floors above, but I was honestly too busy marvelling at what was already presented to me. Looking around, I saw nobody as impressed as I was.

Seriously, how the heck did I get into this school again? Oh right, a scholarship…

Seeing as how there were already students crowding around the restaurants, it was obvious we were not the first ones.

"Alright, and finally, here we have the cafeteria. In the cafeteria we have…" Mr. Schrodinger then went on to describe the first two floors, which were exactly what I had expected, "from the third floor and on are restaurants mainly focused on cuisines from specific continents. For example, you'll find Asian cuisine on the third floor, European cuisine on the fourth and so on. Since this is an orientation session, all meals will be free. However, once school starts you'll have to pay, although not as much as when you're off campus. Anyway, the hour's all yours. Enjoy your meals, and after the hour has passed, we'll take your measurements and head to the computer room so you can register for your classes."

With all these options around, it was a little hard for me to narrow down my choices. Eventually, despite knowing that I didn't have to spend money, decided on getting some cheap Asian fast food. I was glad there were some restaurants I recognized. I wasn't really in a mood to try anything new anyway.

After ordering, I looked around for an empty table. Since I knew nobody here, if I could eat in peace, then everything would be fine.

"Yo, Ronnie!"

On second thought, nevermind.

Scanning the cafeteria and spotting Joe sitting alone in one of the tables, I made my way towards him.

"Hey man, how's your orientation so far?"

"It's fine I guess. Got to sign up for some clubs, but that's it. Just waiting to sign up for classes. You?"

"Same for me. Nobody I knew was in the same group so I tried talking to some people, but they just weren't interested."

"Hah. How about that? Knowing you, I thought you would've already made a few new friends. Guess it doesn't work with people here."

"Right?! Seriously, some people really need to lighten up. Anyway, gimme a moment, I'm trying to see if any of my friends are here. Ah….there!" Immediately, Joe rose from his seat and waved both of his arms.

Looking in the direction that he was, I saw two people react amongst the crowd of students. Upon closer look, I noticed that they were the same two people that sat next to me Alpha and Beta. It then took them a few minutes to get their lunch and head to our table.

"Yo, haven't seen you guys at all this morning! Where were you guys?" Joe asked them.

"We were all the way in the S-Z line, so of course you couldn't have seen us. All the other lines blocker our view." Beta said, not too long before noticing me.

"Oh hey, Aaron! You know Joe too?" Both twins asked.

"Yeah. We were friends starting from elementary school to now."

"Oh, so YOU must be the old friend and transfer student Joe was telling us about!" they said.

"Oh really? Joe told you guys about me? Guess there's no need for a re-introduction then, since you probably already know everything there is to know about me." I said. I'll be honest, I was pleasantly surprised that Joe actually took the time to talk about me with his friends. Then again, since we had been friends for so long, he might have told them about my embarrassing moments.

Alpha immediately chuckled. "Yeah, I mean. One thing I remember was the fact that the girl you liked called you fat. That's rough, buddy."

Yeah...of course he'd tell them that. Right after hearing him say that, Joe also laughed.

Beta then slapped his hand. "Come on, Alpha, that's rude."

"Don't worry about it," I sighed, "It was in elementary school anyway."

"Yeah, and to be fair, that girl was a pretty big jerk." Joe added, "It was still pretty funny though."

We then proceeded to eat our meals while we talked. Apparently, Joe had met the twins while in middle school, and as they stated earlier, they too were scholarship students, although they were more like Joe than me. More well-off. Apparently their mother is also the principal for another school, but they opted to go here since they wanted to be more independent.

"Hey, so like, you're into soccer, right Aaron? You thinking about joining the soccer team here?" Alpha asked.

"Joining the team? Ehh, I don't know…maybe I'll just focus on my studies."

"Whaaat?! Just your studies?! Come on man, that's boring!" Joe chimed in.

"Well I did say _maybe_. I might join the team but you know…"

No sooner had I said that did we hear the sound of a bell, which most likely signaled the end of the lunch period since other students were also moving from their tables and quickly throwing their trash away.

"Well, I'll see you guys later." I said, throwing away my empty tray and grouping again with Mr. Schrodinger.

After grouping back up, he led us to the gym where we were to get our measurements. "These measurements are to help us to tailor all your uniforms so they fit you well. During the school year, if your uniform doesn't fit you anymore, you're more than welcome to request for us to take your measurements again." Walking into one of the rooms with a tailor, I was asked to stand up straight and broad in a T-shape as hey took measurements of my body. After they were done I was told that my uniform was to arrive by mail sometime before school started.

A few minutes after our measurements were done, we then entered the computer lab, which contained long desks lined with computers.

"Alright everyone. First, let's turn on all the monitors and sign into the guest account." Mr. Schrodinger instructed.

We all did as we were told and when everyone was ready, he then instructed us to go to the school website and select the "Create new account" option. Using our school ID number provided to us earlier and creating a password, we created a school account for ourselves, allowing us to be notified of upcoming homework assignments and school news. We were then instructed to click on the "Course Registration" tab, which allowed us to register for courses. On the page were a variety of classes in certain categories. Since we were freshmen, we were to register for freshmen level classes. However, because I was a student who had taken honors classes in middle school, I was to take some advanced classes. P.E 1, World History, Biology, Vietnamese were the regular freshmen classes in my schedule while the advanced classes I were to take were Algebra II, and English 1A, since normal freshmen would normally take geometry and English 1.

After selecting my classes, I was able to choose my starting time. If I were to start at 8:00, then I would usually get out at around 3:00, but if I were to start at 7:00, then I would get out an hour earlier. What's more, the school had a weird schedule where you would only take certain classes on certain days of the week. On Mondays and Wednesdays, it was stated that you'd take periods 1, 3, 5, 7 and on Tuesdays and Thursdays you'd take periods 2, 4, 6, each class being an hour and thirty-five minutes long. Only on Fridays would you take all six of your classes, each of them being only forty minutes long since that was the day the school allowed students out early.

Well regardless, I decided to start at 7:00 since I was often an early riser and preferred to leave school early. With my starting time selected, I went to Mr. Schrodinger to confirm my selection. He then gave me the O.K and allowed me to leave after confirming my registration, thus ending my orientation.

I then proceeded to exit the computer room and saw several students who were also leaving as I walked out. Seeing as how I didn't see anybody I recognized, I called Joe to see if he was done yet.

"Hey man, I just got out. You done registering yet? I'm waiting for you."

" _Hold on a moment, still confirming..."_

 _..._

 _"Aaaannnnddddd...done. Alright I'll be right out."_ he replied.

"Alright. Meet me by the school entrance."

I then sat down on one of the benches and waited. How long I sat there, I didn't know, but next thing I knew, Alpha and Beta walked out in front of me.

"Well, hello there! Waiting for someone?" They asked.

"Yeah. Joe in fact. Are you guys doing anything?"

"Yeah! In fact, we're waiting for him as well."

"Oh really? Well, guess we can all wait together."

No sooner had I said that did Joe come running towards us.

"Hey guys, sorry for the wait! I was trying to decide on my start time for school." he said.

"Oh yeah, so what time did you decide to start?" we all asked.

"Eight o'clock. I could never wake up early enough to start at seven, so I decided to start and end school later. Anyway, now that our orientation's done, why don't we stop by Kerning Square? Get some drinks and whatnot? You guys down?"

"Totally!" The twins replied.

"Yeah, I'm totally down." I said.

Kerning Square was a huge shopping mall not too far from Kerning City. First we had to take a subway down to the city before taking another subway down to the mall. It took less than ten minutes to arrive upon taking the subway to both destinations. Compared to the dirty and run-down city itself, the shopping mall was surprisingly clean, bright, colorful, and had a very different environment. It was a huge layered rectangular structure multiple stories tall with escalators across from each other. Many stores and restaurants covered the place.

"Come on guys, let's head to the bubble tea place!" Alpha said.

The bubble tea place was only a few minutes away by foot if you walked casually, and when we arrived, we could already see people hanging out outside the shop.

"Whoa, talk about a line… and here I thought we actually came during a slower day..." Beta muttered.

"Hold on guys, let me check on the line…" Joe then left his backpack with Alpha and jogged inside the shop, only to come out less than five seconds later. "It's not too long. The main reason why it's so crowded is because some are just waiting for their drinks while others are just here to hang out. So what do you guys want? I'll go in and order for you."

Alpha ordered a mango bubble tea while Beta ordered a cherry bubble tea. As they ordered, Joe took out a slip of paper to write down their orders. Seeing that kind of made me imagine him as a waiter of some sort.

"Alright, alright. So what about 'chu, Aaron?"

"My turn already? Hmm…" Upon looking at the menu inside the shop, I could see that it sold more than just bubble tea. There were smoothies, tapioca, soft drinks, and even food. However, since bubble tea was the cheapest, I went ahead and ordered a honeydew melon bubble tea.

We then all gave Joe the amount of mesos that our orders cost and immediately he rushed inside to get our orders.

Thankfully, as time passed, the crowd dissipated as the people decided to walk around the mall, giving us room to take some seats inside the shop and hang out. Surprisingly, it took Joe less than five minutes to come with our orders.

Upon seeing what Joe bought for himself, we all stared at him incredulously. "Really, man? A strawberry smoothie? You know, if you brought so much money with you, you could've treated us!"

"Oh lay off guys, I only had enough for myself."

Nevertheless, we all poked our straws in and drank what we ordered. The taste of the melon tea was…pretty interesting to say the least. It combined the sweetness of the melon with the bitter taste of tea. Combine that with pearls, and I guess I could finally understand why people enjoyed bubble tea so much.

Looking around the shop, I noticed several monitors showing cartoons and idol performances and other people chatting. The atmosphere was pretty vibrant. Moving here was definitely a good idea.

* _SLUUURRRRPPPP*_

I looked up and saw that Alpha and Beta had already finished their drinks.

Alpha was about to stand up until Beta grabbed his cup from him. "Anyone else done? I'll throw away your guys' cups."

"Oh yeah, could you please?" I then hurried and finished mine and handed the empty cup to her. Checking my phone, I saw that the clock was approaching four, and I didn't want to take chances and stay out late. Luckily, everyone else was thinking the same.

"Well, we better go," Beta said as we all got up from out seats, "I have to start practicing early for volleyball if I want to make it into the varsity team."

"You want to make it into the varsity team as a freshman?" I asked.

"Yup! Aim high, right?"

Dang. If I ever tried out for any team I'd be happy on the junior varsity squad. Beta was doing a good job at making me feel bad.

"Oh yeah, sorry guys, gimme a moment to order an extra drink." Joe said, rushing back to the counter.

Alpha smirked as he did so. "Yeah, of course he'd do that. He'd never forget about her. And yet he said he only had enough money for himself."

Ooohhh what was this? Joe knows another girl?

"Her?" I asked.

"A 'friend'", Alpha said, putting quotations when he said "friend", "that we met during middle school. Joe barely does anything fun without her, and even if he does, he always texts her about it or tells her in person. Heck they even sometimes live together!"

"Oh so she's his girlfriend?"

"Well you'd think so, but for some reason he keeps denying it."

"Were you guys saying something?" Before we knew it, Joe had already finished ordering and was ready to leave.

"Ah, nothing. Anyway, it's time for us to go now." Alpha said, leaving with his sister.

"Well, guess we'll see you guys at school." I said.

...

"So...got that for a girl didn't you?"

Right when I said that Joe coughed and took a sip from the drink intended for the "girl".

"Alpha told you didn't he?"

I didn't really know if Alpha wanted to get caught, so I decided against revealing him. But that I meant I needed another reason.

What could I use, what could I use? How did I know about this girl...how did I know about this girl…

Ah!

"Well no, I just remembered something about you telling me about the girl you met in middle school. You know, the one that was hard to make friends with? Is she the one?"

"Yeah. Won't say anything more than that though."

Oh really? Well, depending on his reaction, if I pulled out this question…

"Oh. So you guys are together now?"

"She is NOT my girlfriend!" Seeing him vehemently deny that kind of only made me more suspicious.

"But she could be, right?"

"W-Well yeah, but...oh look here's your house!"

I thought he was trying to avoid me, but looking to my left, he was right. Although I could walk all the way to Joe's home, seeing as how I told **Ba** that I'd be home by noon and noon had already passed, I decided to stop.

"Ah well, guess I'll see you later then." Waving bye to Joe, I rang the doorbell to my house, and a few seconds later, Rose opened the door to greet me.

"Hi **anh hai!** " she said, embracing me right after. Seeing me walk into the house, Joe also took his leave.

Walking further in, I noticed dad writing on some documents, looking and smiling at me for only a second before returning to his work. " **Hi con. Orientation có vui không?"** (Was orientation fun?)

"Yeah." I simply replied, laying on the couch after realizing how tired I was.

"You excited for school?"

"Definitely."

* * *

 **Whew! Glad I got this done. Since I'm on break now, I hope to be pumping some more chapters out!**

* * *

 **Name: Adam Le (Aaron's father, birth name:** **Tuấn Lê** **)**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Age: 38**

 **Birthdate: April 4**

 **Height: 6 feet 2 inches.**

 **Occupation: Pediatrician, single father.**

 **Appearance: Usually wears a tucked in dress shirt and khaki pants along with dress shoes. Also wears glasses and has an "Alex" style hairdo.**

 **Personality: Usually kind and gentle, but can be sarcastic and witty.**

 **Likes: His children and his late wife, playing soccer, watching T.V, sparring sessions with Aaron.**

 **Dislikes: His children being disobedient.**

 **Hobbies: Working out, reading and sometimes writing novels. Definitely not fan fictions.**

 **Interesting info: When he was young, his family consisted of only him, his mother and his father. Born and raised in a very poor neighborhood in the motherland, his mother and father had to toil in the farms to make a living. He lived a religious life until he joined a gang when he was twelve, which was where he learned to steal and fight to support his family. He continued stealing and fighting despite his parents' protests because he didn't want to live a life of poverty. Because of their thefts and involvement in some illegal business, many gang members and anyone affiliated with them eventually were gunned down by police, his parents included. As a result he lost all of his money, friends, and even his family. Many children were then orphaned and with nobody to take care of them, every day at least one would die on the streets of either starvation or disease. It was this sight that awakened his desire to resume his religious life and to become someone who could aid children. With nothing left,** **Tuấn worked several odd jobs trying to make enough money to escape the motherland and managed to enroll himself into a school. During his school days, he spent all of his time learning everything he could about anything he could. As a result, he earned top marks in school and numerous scholarships. He then attended the Mu Lung University with aspirations of being a pediatrician. It was in Mu Lung University that he met his future wife, Elise. Together, they had two children. Aaron, while they were both still in college, and Rose after they had graduated.** **After Elise's death, Adam raised both children on his own and plans to never remarry.**

 **Life fresh after graduating college was tough because it was difficult to find work. As a result, the family relocated several times and Adam worked many part time jobs to raise his family. He started off working in clinics of poor neighborhoods, and after making enough money, relocated to richer, safer neighborhoods to help his children live more comfortable lives. Eventually, he was finally able to find a clinic where his children could live a life of comfort in Victoria, which is where the family is now.**

 **Also has a lot of admirers.**


	3. The First Day

**Whew! Finally got this out of the way. Sorry for my absence! I was busy writing and enjoying my winter until I got sick for a while XP. I'm fine now though. Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

* * *

After the orientation, the rest of my summer was spent in preparation. Sure, summer break was still going on, but seeing as how I did not know where any of my classes were located, Dad decided to visit campus together with Rose and I to map out the route for me to move between classes. After all, the last thing I wanted to do was embarrass myself by asking for directions.

" **Anh hai,** your school is so big!" Rose exclaimed, running deeper into the campus. Before she could get far though, dad immediately rushed forward and grabbed hold of her hand.

" **An Nhiên** **, con đứng gần ba. Đừng chạy xa quá!"** he said.(Rose, you stay next to daddy. Don't run too far away!)

"Aw…"

Luckily there was a directory not too far behind the gates of the school. Dad then asked me to give him my class schedule so we could find where all my classes were located. After I had taken a picture of the directory, we all walked deeper into the school.

"Now let's see here...Science building room 101...oh, it's not too far from here. In fact, it's to the left." I said.

Walking over to one of the tall buildings, we noticed a sign that read: _Science Building_.

" **May quá có bản hiệu đây**. Otherwise it would've been so easy to get lost." Dad said. " **Rồi con nhớ chưa**? Let's keep going." (Luckily there's a sign here...have you remembered it yet?...)

Mapping out the routes didn't take too long and after we were done, we all decided to explore the campus some more. Surprisingly, there were other families who were also mapping out routes for their own kids. Seeing others as lost as I was made me feel a whole lot better about mapping out my route.

In the following days, I continued my daily routine of running a few miles and playing soccer and before I knew it, the first day of school had come.

* * *

" **Anh hai...anh hai ơi.** Wakey wakey." I could hear Rose's voice as I felt some light pushing on my arm.

Slowly opening my eyes and checking the clock next to my bed, I saw it read: 7:10. It was past the starting time I had signed up for, but during the break the school had contacted us, telling us that all students who signed up for a 7:00 class would start at 8:00. If I were to arrive to school in fifteen minutes, then I still had about thirty-five minutes to go. If that was the case then what was Rose doing, telling me to get up so early?

I waved my hand to shoo her away. "I start school late today…" I whispered, too tired to use my voice, "...a few more minutes."

"But **ba nói anh hai phải dậy bay giờ mà**!" (Dad said you need to wake up now!)

I simply sighed and turned away from her. There was no way I was going to deal with her right after having been woken up so early.

" **Anh hai**...wake… uuuuuuupppppppp!" Right after she said that, I felt a sharp pounding on my sides.

"Ow...ow...OW! Alright alright, **anh hai dậy bay giờ!** " (...your big brother's waking up now!)

Thanks to her jumping on me, I no longer felt as tired as I did and searched for the box that contained my uniform, which was mailed to me a few days prior. Inside the box were two ties, one red and one black; the black tie was to be worn with the red blazer and the red tie was to be worn when only wearing the black sweater vest. For top wear, there was one one white dress shirt, along with a black sweater vest and a red blazer. For boys' bottoms, anything was acceptable as long as it was black or red and followed the dress code of the school, which I didn't really pay much attention to since I was sure nothing I wore could be deemed inappropriate in any way. All of these made up the uniform of MapleStory Academy. After putting on the black slim-fit jeans that dad bought for me over the summer and my rosary, I then put on the white dress shirt, the red tie, and the black sweater vest, which contained the school emblem over the left breast area. I figured I'd save the blazer for fall and winter since it was still summer as of now. I headed down the stairs to make breakfast, only to see it already made for me. At the dinner table was dad just casually reading a newspaper, Rose rapidly gobbling up her favorite Moon Bunny's Rice Cake cereal and my breakfast, a piece of toast with a fried egg on top that looked like it had just been made a few minutes prior.

Dad then smiled at me before returning to his newspaper. "Good morning."

"Morning. **Ba ăn chưa? Ba có muốn con làm đồ cho ba ăn không?** " I replied as I bit into my toast. (Did you eat yet? You want me to make you something.)

" **Không, ba ăn rồi.** So, are you excited?" (No, I ate already.)

"I guess…? I mean, the campus is nice and all and I do have some friends."

" **Nếu mà như vậy thì tại sao con lo**?" (If that's the case then what are you worried about?)

"I'm just a little worried that I'll struggle. This is a prestigious school after all." I said. Dad then chuckled at my worry as if I was worrying for nothing.

" **Trường** , you're worrying too much. You were accepted to the school on a scholarship! Everyone else had to pay a lot of money to attend this school. That already puts you above several students. Besides, it seems to be a rich school with many resources. Even if you do fall behind, I'm sure the school has something that can help somehow." he said with a reassuring smile. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't make an effort though."

Typical dad, adding in these remarks.

"Alright. Well, I'll be going now." I said, packing up my things and preparing to leave the house.

" **Con muốn ba trở con đi không?** " (You want me to take you there?)

"No thanks. I'll walk."

"Bye **anh hai**!" I heard Rose say. After waving to her and dad, I made my way to school.

I had to admit, walking to school on a school day was quite the experience. The streets and sidewalks were no longer empty. Already on the street was a long line of limousines and other expensive cars most likely heading towards school. The sidewalks now became crowded with students walking alone or in groups. Although I couldn't see the inside of the cars since most of the windows were dark, I was sure most, if not all of them held students inside. Thinking about it now, deciding to walk to school was probably the smartest decision I made for the day. Being late was the last thing I wanted to happen to me, especially on the first day of school. Some of the students must have had similar ideas to mine, because then they started exiting their cars and running towards the school like many others.

Checking my phone, it showed that there was a good twenty minutes before school started, so I continued on walking without rush. When the school came into view, it was overflowing with students. Some were passing out fliers, advertising their clubs and sports teams. At that moment, I felt my heart beat a little faster. Never before had I seen a school so lively and crowded before. It was pretty exciting.

For the first two days of school, students were to have all six of their classes in a day. Since my first class was Biology with Mr. Grendel, I made my way to the science building, which was easy to find as dad and I already navigated the school before the first day. Upon arriving at the door, I saw students already lining up next to it. Suddenly, a stray sheet of paper fell from someone in the line. Upon picking it up, I heard a voice.

"Hey man, that's mine. Could you please give that to me?" It sounded male, and looking towards the end of the line was a guy with blonde hair tied up.

"Here you are." I said, handing him the sheet of paper..

"Thanks a lot." he said. I then stood behind him and took a deep breath. "You nervous?" he asked.

"A little. Well, I'm usually like this on the first day of school anyway." I replied. "What about you?"

"I'm sorta the same I guess. But I have some friends here so I'm not too worried. By the way, I'm Lapis. Lapis Kessho. Nice to meet'cha" he said, holding out his hand.

"I'm Aaron. Nice to meet you too." I said, as I shook his.

"So you plan on signing up for any clubs or sports teams?"

"Eh...maybe. Depending on how much time I have. What about you?"

"Yup! Last day of basketball tryouts is today. Season starts soon too!"

"I see."

Before we knew it, the door the the classroom opened and out came a rather old man wearing a cone hat and wrinkled attire. Immediately everyone was silent.

"Come in everyone, come in." he said, voice sounding a lot younger than his appearance. Wordlessly, we all walked into the classroom and took seats, with Lapis and I sitting next to each other. Compared to the outside, the inside of the classroom was surprisingly quiet. Once everyone was settled down, the teacher, Mr. Grendel, I think, chuckled.

"Let this be for future reference for you all. I do encourage you all to check if the door is unlocked before you all wait outside in the cold. I'll admit I was not expecting not even one student checking, hahaha!"

Lapis then raised his hand. "Wait, so the door was open the whole time?" he asked.

"Precisely."

At that, the entire class groaned, but he seemed to remain unfazed.

"Well regardless of that, a good morning to you all! Welcome to MapleStory Academy and welcome to Biology! I'm Mr. Grendel and I teach both regular and AP Biology at this school. Here, my goal is to teach you all I can about my favorite subject and make this class your favorite class along with me being your favorite teacher, hahaha! I also hope to see you in my AP Biology class either next year or your junior year!"

Mr. Grendel then handed out the class syllabus to all of us as he continued talking about his class expectations and grading scale. It was relieving to hear that nothing he stated was impossible for me to achieve. For a while I was worried I'd have trouble passing here. With his light voice and confidence, he made it seem like the class would be a breeze, even for me. After his introduction, we were allowed to socialize in class, for there was nothing else he prepared for in the day.

"So where are ya from?" I heard Lapis asked.

"Oh I just live in the neighborhood." I replied. "What about you?"

"Same, although I live quite far down though, so I usually ride my skateboard here. What about you? Do you walk or something?"

"Yeah, I walk. I don't live too far away from here."

"Really? That's pretty cool, getting all that exercise. Oh yeah! How about we exchange numbers? You have a phone right?"

As we pulled out our phones, I noticed that his phone was incredibly long and slim. Most likely a new model. It made me feel a little conscious of my own phone for a little bit, but I stopped caring once I pulled out my own and received no reaction from him. It wasn't like my phone was really old or anything, it had a touch screen and could surf internet and all that, but it certainly wasn't new either. Well, no use worrying about this now anyway.

Soon, the bell rang and we headed out for our second period class.

"Yo, so what's your second period?" Lapis asked.

Unravelling the sheet of paper I kept in my pocket, I searched for the second class on the list. "Let's see here...P.E with Mr. Dances with Balrog. You?"

"That sucks. I have English with Mr. Hawkeye. Well, I'll see you later."

My schedule showed that P.E was to be held in the gym, so I rushed past the other walking students to the other side of the school. Walking into the gym, I could already see students gathered in several crowds. In the center of the crowds were men, most likely the teachers, holding up signs containing names. Seeing the letters "DWB" on one of the signs, I assumed that those letters were an acronym for "Dances With Balrog" and I walked over to the crowd. Soon after all students were gathered with their respective teachers, we were led into the locker rooms. With all of the boys and girls gathered in their respective locker rooms, Mr. Dances with Balrog then stood on one of the benches inside and clapped his hands, easily capturing everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone, now listen up. You all will be given your own lockers soon and we will give you your five-digit codes. Your locker is strictly for storing your P.E clothes and deodorant or perfume or cologne, assuming you bring any of those to school. Here, you buy a P.E shirt, shorts, sweater and sweatpants. It doesn't really matter what combination you wear, as long as you have a P.E top and bottom. Not having even one piece will result in the loss of points in this class. Now since this is the only the first day of school and it is also a short day, we won't be selling anything until two days from now when we can all have the class full time. Understood? Great. Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. The time's all yours to socialize."

Since there was no one I was close to or could recognize in the room, I simply kept to myself and fiddled around with my phone until class ended, which, thankfully, wasn't too far away. Once the bell rang, I checked my schedule to see which class I had next. Apparently it was history with Ms. Pierce. Thankfully, the history building wasn't too far from from the gym, so once the bell rang, I walked towards it at a slower pace. Once again avoiding all of the other students rushing up and down the stairs of the building, I made my way into room 301. Walking into the room, I saw several students already seated, one of whom was Joe.

"Ronnie!" He called out, tapping on the desk next to him. Taking a seat at that desk, he and I clapped each other's hands. "Yo! So what classes did you have so far?"

"Just Bio and P.E. You?"

"Just came from english class. So what do you think? Think you have a good chance of becoming valedictorian?"

"Come on man. It's our first year and our first day. Ask me that in two years, then I'll have an answer."

"Hah, relax dude! We're scholarship students! We can totally do it!"

"I feel like scholarship students aren't necessarily uncommon here."

"Yeah, they really aren't. But hey! Uncommon or not, the fact that we don't have to pay still remains! Provided we earn the necessary grades of course."

I sighed at what he said, since it wasn't really false. Providing the necessary grades to maintain the scholarship still worried me though. Then in a blink of an eye, students started filing into the classroom, and it became full within seconds. Immediately after the bell rang, a tall blonde woman entered the classroom. I had to admit though, there was something about her presence...it was like she emitted a controlling aura around her. Right when she walked in, the lively classroom immediately became quieter.

"Welcome everyone, to World History. I am your teacher, Ms. Pierce and I'll admit that I'm a little nervous as I am fresh out of college and this is my first year teaching, especially at MapleStory Academy no less. Nevertheless, by the end of the year, I aim to have you all end the year with a strong grasp of the world's past." Grabbing out a stack of paper, most likely the syllabus, she started passing them around with incredible accuracy. It took only one swipe of her hand to grab out a small stack for students to hand down the rows of seats, and no extras were left once they reached the end. "Please have these signed by one of your parents. I'm sure this isn't too hard of an assignment so I'll have this due tomorrow. If there's a problem with the due date, then please come talk to me after class, which is when break starts and we'll be able to work something out. I do not accept late assignments. Turning anything past the due date will result in zero points. That said, I have high hopes for each and every one of you. I truly believe that you are all capable of passing this class with ease. All you have to do is complete your assignments early or on time, listen and take notes in class and most importantly, study! Doing so will result in you all passing with ease!"

After her speech we were once again allowed to socialize. With the free time, some students already approached Ms. Pierce most likely regarding the due date for their assignment.

"Hey so…" Joe started as he grabbed a soccer ball out of his bag. "You wanna help me find a place where we can play around with this?"

"Sure, why not?" Before we knew it, the bell rang.

"Remember everyone! It's break right now, so there's no need to rush to your next class!" Ms. Pierce said, right before we exited the classroom. We were then immediately met with students occupying nearly every area of the outside. The benches, the lawns, the gardens, the fountains, all were covered with students. It wasn't until after Joe had called Alpha and Beta that we found out they had saved a small spot in the gardens.

"So, how was your guys' day?" Beta asked, munching on a sandwich.

"You're not gonna save that for lunch?" I asked. Beta simply shrugged.

"Meh, like this is enough for lunch anyway. Besides, I need all the energy I can get for volleyball tryouts today." she said.

"Down worry about it." Alpha chimed in, "She's capable of eating at least ten times this without gaining any weight."

"Geez…I wish I could be like that."

Joe then started using his foot to juggle the soccer ball before passing it to me for me to juggle it as well. After a few seconds of juggling, Alpha then waved his hands signalling for me to pass it over to him, which I did. The process then repeated a couple of times until we heard someone calling out to us.

"Hey! You guys!"

At first, I didn't think it was directed to us until I saw Alpha's and Joe's heads turn to face to source.

Glancing in the same direction, I could see several students, most likely upperclassmen based on their height and looks, rush over to us.

"What's up?" Alpha asked.

"Hey, are you guys into soccer? How would you like to join the team?" The third tallest guy asked.

"Aren't there tryouts first, though?" I asked.

"And aren't there also a Junior Varsity and Varsity team?" Joe asked.

"That's right, but if I'm being honest here, you'd probably make the Varsity team if you simply had the basic knowledge and passion for it. Frankly, we're undermanned. All of our previous players have either graduated, lost passion, or have become too busy. That's where you guys come in!" He then started giving us flyers, which contained the dates and necessities for the soccer team tryouts. "So, you guys interested? We'd be glad to have you!"

It was definitely tempting. I had always wanted to join a high school sports team, but having to worry about sports along with schoolwork and possibly clubs always worried me.

"Hmm...I'll need to think about this." I said.

"No pressure man! You have about a month and a half to make it. In the meantime, allow us to introduce ourselves…" he said. He introduced himself as the captain and forward of the team, Cristiano. Along with him were Luka, Xabi and Thomas, the midfielders; Marcel, the left-back, and David the goalkeeper. After their introduction, they left in a jiffy, possibly to recruit other students. Seeing their chipper attitudes, it really made me want to join.

"Well, I was totally going to join anyway. What about you guys?" Joe asked us.

"Well definitely not me, I've already got my hands full with volleyball." Beta replied.

"Of course not you, Beta." Alpha scoffed. "Every time you kick a ball it either goes sharply sideways or backwards. You wouldn't have made it even with the knowledge and passion." To that, Beta threw a tomato slice at him. Alpha didn't seem to mind as he simply wiped his face with his sleeve and ate the tomato slice. "But it's the same for me though. Real football all the way, am I right? What about you, Aaron?"

"Ehh...I want to but I'll probably have to ask my dad first. I have a curfew so hopefully he'll extend it."

"Curfew? That sucks."

"Wait, I've been meaning to ask, where are Lapis and Lazuli?" Joe asked.

When I heard Lapis I immediately thought of the guy playing basketball. Could it really be the same guy? Then again, there might be other Lapis's around, so I decided not to question anything.

"They're both practicing for their after school sports tryouts so they couldn't come today." Beta replied.

"That sucks even more."

The bell eventually rang, signalling the end of the break. As we all said our goodbyes, Alpha, Beta and I headed to fourth period English while Joe headed to whatever class he had.

As soon as we had all settled down and the bell had rung, a woman popped up from under her desk. She wore a pirate's cap along with a knuckle in one hand and a hook on the other, and had two pistols on the sides of her hip.

"Yaarrr! Ahoy mateys! I'm the captain of the Nautilus, captain Kyrin! Welcome! Within my Nautilus, ya blokes are gunna act like me, talk like me, and live like me!"

At this point I was sure nobody could take her seriously. Looking over to Alpha and Beta they seemed to have faces that said, _are you kidding me?_

Thankfully, Ms. Kyrin wasn't so serious either, as she removed all of her accessories as quickly as she appeared.

"Oh I'm just joking everyone, there's no way that I would be a certified teacher if I had acted like so. Besides, nobody would've taken me seriously like I'm sure many of you thought, hahaha! All joking aside, welcome everyone, to English 1A. Typically, those who are in the "A" class are typically scholarship students or students who have taken honors english classes in middle school, or maybe both. I'm sure this describes you all correct?"

We all nodded.

"Then it's perfect! Here in English 1A we go at a more accelerated pace than those in regular English 1. We'll also be having more discussions regarding real life topics and issues along with tackling more difficult aspects of english. Don't worry though, I'm sure everyone here will pass the class like a breeze, provided you take it seriously. That said, I don't think there's anything left for me to say! The time's all yours while I pass out the course syllabus."

With the extra time, Alpha and Beta and I then grabbed out our class schedules to see if we had any classes together. Sadly, English 1A was the only class we had with each other.

"So do you guys get out of school at two or three?" I asked.

"We get out at three. Neither of us are willing to wake up an hour earlier just so we can end school earlier. Besides, I'm pretty sure club activities typically start at four o'clock, so we're pretty much doing nothing for two hours if we end at two." Beta replied.

"Makes sense."

* _BLEEEEEP!*_

At the sound of the bell, we packed all of our things and exited the classroom.

"Well, I'll see you guys later."

"See you tomorrow!"

Two more classes until the end of school.

The math building was quite a ways away from the English building, so I once speed-walked across the campus, which made my feet ache. The passing period between classes was said to be five minutes, but since I had no timer, I decided not to take any chances and reach the class ASAP.

Once I had reached the math building, I checked all of the class numbers, but none had matched the one on my schedule. Ah wait, hold on, I had forgotten that Algebra 2 was typically for sophomores, so it was probably on the second floor. I then squeezed myself through all of the rushing freshmen while ignoring some of their remarks and made my way upstairs like most of the upperclassmen. Reaching the second floor, the room number came into view. I breathed a sigh of relief as I had arrived early and walked in. Looking around, I couldn't see anyone I recognized, and I felt a little awkward sitting next to people I didn't know. Fortunately for me, there were empty seats in the corners of the room, so I took the one in the furthest back and near the window. More students piled in and I checked to see if there was anyone I knew. Huh, come to think of it, I didn't really know which math classes Alpha, Beta, or Joe were taking. That said, the probability of them being in the same class as me was low, seeing as how their schedules were way to different than mine anyway. With that realization, I stopped putting effort into it, and simply stared out the window, admiring the view of the school from higher elevation.

"Is this seat taken?"

The voice sounded like it was coming from near me, so I turned to my right and sure enough, there was a girl pointing down at the desk next to mine.

"Oh, no. You can ta-"

"Thank you."

…

Guess she didn't really want to talk...oh well. Heh, I didn't think my first encounter with a girl in high school would be so…? What was the word again? Well whatever. Let's just say unexpected.

 _*BLEEEEEEEEEPP*_

The sound of the bell immediately silenced us, making us ready ourselves for the class to begin. However, looking around, the teacher was nowhere in sight. Everywhere in the room, all you could see were students. There was nobody who really stood out.

"Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to fifth period math. I am Mr. Jin, your instructor for your first, and hopefully last year of Algebra 2. And for those of you who are retaking the course this year...I sincerely hope you make this year your last."

That voice...it was a man's voice, but for some reason, I couldn't find the source. It was as if he was able to project his voice throughout the room. The other students seemingly felt the same way as I did, seeing as how they were also scanning the room. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Looking for someone?"

"Whoa!" I screamed, nearly falling off my desk. Behind me emerged a man dressed in all back. Black dress shirt, black tie, black pants, black shoes, even a black mask to cover his mouth. He seemed to be unfazed by my freakout, seeing as how he continued walking to his desk as if nothing had happened.

"Sorry about that, I was trying to stress the importance of math." he said.

"Importance of math?" I asked, probably a little more exasperated than intended.

"That's right, math. Math is like a ninja, or a shadow. Ever lurking in the darkness, but always present, and very important. There are many things possible because of math, yet people always disregard it, saying that learning it hurts their brains. Planning out your daily routines, such as the time you need to wake up in order arrive to school on time, the construction of this school, and the understanding of the universe; all require math of some form. I hope you now have a better idea of why learning math is necessary. That said, I do not tolerate shirking your work and wish you the best of luck in this class."

The class continued staying quiet even when he started passing out the syllabus for the class. I guess everyone was still a little intimidated. It was almost surprising to see how strongly his voice contrasted with his looks. His eyes were sharp, almost as if he saw us as enemies, and his all-black clothing made him look all the more dangerous, however his voice was calm and gentle. Almost like a ninja, but I still felt like I could pass the class.

"Now as usual, please have your parents sign the syllabus, as it contains what you need to prepare for this class along with my expectations of you all and what you can expect from me. Also, remember everyone that since today is a short schedule, lunch will be after sixth period instead of after fifth, so hurry on to your next class after the period is done. That said, feel free to check your phones and socialize."

There were still a few minutes of class left before the bell rang, seeing as how I had nothing to do, I simply grabbed out my bible and read. Looking over to the girl next to me, I saw her also reading a book of some kind. She wore a uniform just like me, albeit with a skirt rather than pants. She also had a very off-center ponytail, seeing as how it was near the side of her head and not at the back and there were a long bundle of strands standing up at the top of her heard. As she turned, I immediately turned back to my bible. Didn't want to get caught for the wrong reason after all.

"Eh...heheheheh."

…

That was definitely her laughing...weird.

* _BlEEEEEEEEEEP*_

Well, no point in thinking about that now. Finally, it's the last period of the day…

Thankfully, the language building wasn't too far from the math building. Frankly, my feet were hurting from all this speed-walking. Of course, upon entering the classroom, all I could see were asians. Hah, of course. This was a Vietnamese class after all. Apparently the most popular language to learn here was Korean, but at the moment, I had no interest. Come to think of it, I was pretty sure Joe was taking Korean since he was also Korean or partly Korean for that matter.

Regardless, with me always having to speak my mother tongue at home, speaking and understanding Viet was going to be a piece of cake. Like last time, there was nobody familiar, so I took whatever seat was available, this time in the middle of the class. When the bell rang, the teacher came and introduced herself as Ms. Nguyen. Heh, of course. After receiving my syllabus, she excused us early from class and allowed us to go home seeing as how it was the last class of the day. I had originally planned on waiting for Joe, Alpha, and Beta but then I had realized that they still had one more class since they started later than I did. With that in mind, I simply walked down the quiet streets toward home.

I sighed as my feet ached with every step due to how much walking I did within the day. Before I could use the key to unlock the door, dad opened it for me, still in a shirt and shorts.

" **Hi con.** " he smiled.

" **Ủa, con tưởng là ba đi làm bửa nay mà**?" (I thought you had to go to work today?)

" **Chưa, ngày mai ba sẽ đi**. **Sao, đ học có vui không**?" (Not today. Tomorrow I'll go. Anyway, was school fun?)

"Yeah, I made some friends."

" **Ôi, nói tiếng việt con** **ơi**." (Hey, speak vietnamese.)

" **Thôi đi ba. Con lười quá**. **An Nhiên** **đâu?** " (I'm too lazy. Where's Rose?)

" **Em đang ngủ. Bửa nay em củng ra sớm. Con ăn trưa chưa?** " (She's napping. She also got released early today. Did you eat lunch yet?)

" **Chưa, con đâu có đem** **đồ** **ăn đi học đâu.** " (Not yet. I didn't bring any food to school.)

"Alright. **Đừng nấu gì.** **Để ba làm đồ cho con**." (Don't cook anything. Let me make something for you.)

"Aww, thanks **ba**!"

" **Nói tiếng việt.** " (Speak Vietnamese.)

* * *

 **So how was it? Hope you guys didn't get sick during the winter like I did!**

 **Sorry for only being able to get out one chapter during break. Even with school coming back, I'll try harder to update more regularly.**

* * *

 **Name: Rose Le (** **Lê** **An Nhiên** **)**

 **Gender: Female**

 **Birthday: July 31**

 **Personality: Cheerful, naive, outgoing.**

 **Strongest subject: Math**

 **Likes: Drawing, reading, playing her violin/piano, playing with friends, beating her brother in video games**

 **Hobbies: Drawing, playing her favorite instruments.**

 **Interesting info: Youngest in her family. Soon after she was born, her mother died from sickness as she held Rose in her arms. She was taught piano when she was in kindergarten and picked up the violin after watching a youtuber play violin covers of her favorite songs. When she's not drawing, napping or doing homework, she's usually playing one of the two instruments. She is also more of a glutton than Aaron is, although she never seems to gain weight. This annoys Aaron greatly because he always has to work hard to maintain his body shape while Rose doesn't have to at all. Also, when she was very young she was so used to seeing a chubby Aaron that after he started working out and losing weight, along with getting slightly tanner, Rose stopped recognizing him. It took her father's reassurance to convince her that it really was Aaron under the pretense that working out magically turns a person's skin darker.**


	4. Key Club and Community Service

**Whew! Hope you guys all enjoy this new chapter! Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

 **To TheAsian: Yes, I myself am Vietnamese. Born in Vietnam in fact :).**

* * *

After about a little more than week of school, I finally felt I was settling down. None of my subjects were too hard, and I was able to turn in all of my homework on time if not earlier than the due date. It was also nice to have some friends around to make things not as awkward as they could have been since, you know, I'm the new kid and all. I also found myself liking _all_ of my teachers, which was something that's never happened before.

Waking up as I normally did, I made myself some toast while leaving out the eggs and cereal for dad and Rose to have later when they woke up. Grabbing some textbooks and putting on my shoes, I made my way to school. This time I wasn't walking alone. After finding out that we took similar routes, Lapis and I met each other at Victoria crossway, not too far from home.

"Heyo!" he said, coming towards me on his skateboard. I, in turn, saluted to greet him back.

"Hey there," I started, "I heard you finished your basketball tryouts?"

"That's right I did. They'll post the lineups after school so once class is out, I'm heading straight for the gym."

"Think you've made it?"

"I hope so. I think I did pretty well during tryouts. I'm hoping to at least be a starter on the JV team."

"Only on the Junior Varsity team? You don't want to be on the Varsity team?"

"Oh I do! Don't get me wrong, being a Varsity athlete as a freshman? Bro, that's a dream come true! But even if I did become one, the chances of me being a starter on the team is low since the Varsity team already has a strong squad. I don't know if you know this, but when it comes to sports, our basketball team is one of, if not the best in the country! Lots of pro athletes went to school here. Anyway, if I'm not a starter on the Varsity team, I'd rather be demoted to JV. At least there I have a chance to start."

"So you just want to play, huh? Not going after all that attention Varsity athletes get?"

"Well, I'd be lying if I didn't say that too. But getting my playing time comes first. No use getting attention if I don't enjoy it, right? Besides, it's not like bench players get that much attention anyway. Anyway, here we are. Did you finish the biology homework?"

"Yeah, wasn't too hard. Ready for the quiz?"

"Duh. Naming cell components is gonna be a piece of cake."

* * *

Mr. Grendel really meant it when he said he wanted us to know biology by heart. After a few days of learning about cells, he then gave us a quiz on the parts of the cell. Thankfully, all we had to do was match definitions with the correct cell component of both plant and animal cells. Nothing too hard.

"Everyone done? Alright then, please switch quizzes with your partner and let's start grading them!"

I switched mine with Lapis's and by the time Mr. Grendel was done reading off all the answers, we both earned perfect scores.

 _*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*_

Before we left, Mr. Grendel gave us a reminder. "Remember everyone, we'll be doing a lab next time we meet!"

Packing our things, we both headed out to our second periods.

"So, did you join any clubs?" Lapis asked.

"Well, I signed up for some. Why?"

"You didn't know? Club meetings start today! Ah well, I'm sure the announcements will post it up somewhere You should totally join some! Anyway, I gotta go. See ya!"

Club meetings, huh? Come to think of it, the reason why I signed up for some was because dad encouraged me to get involved, and because it would look good when applying for colleges. I didn't really know what clubs I wanted to be a part of or if I wanted to partake in any school activities but...well, it wouldn't hurt to check it out anyway.

Apparently, school announcements are typically shown after third period and before break daily to help students catch up with the news, so when there were about five minutes of class left, Ms. Pierce turned on the broadcast. On the screen were two people wearing our school uniform with one holding a microphone.

"Goooood Morning, MapleStory Academy! Ria and Tia here to get you guys up to date with the news with the first morning announcements of the year! First off, a big welcome back to our returning students, and an even bigger welcome to our freshmen! Get ready to experience the best four years of your lives! So Ria, what's going on today?"

"This week, clubs are now active so be sure to check the dates of your club meetings so you don't miss 'em!" The screen showed the names of hundreds of clubs along with the times and dates of their meetings in a matter of seconds. Apparently Key Club was to meet today in the multipurpose room during lunch. Guess I'd be heading to the multipurpose room since I signed up for it and all. Before I knew it, the screen then went back to the two announcers.

"We sure have a lot of clubs meeting today, so be sure to check them out! Anyway, Tia what can we expect from the weather?"

"Thanks, Ria. Well, we're still in summer so you all can expect sunny hot days for a few weeks. Not so surprising, right? But if anything comes up we'll be sure to let you know. Moving on, the basketball and Volleyball seasons will start soon. Lineups have been finished and their very first game is in less than a week! Get your tickets early so you can get the best seats. Gooooo Maplers!"

The microphone was once handed over again.

"Well, MapleStory Academy, that's all we have for you today. Eat well, study hard, and enjoy the rest of your day! This is Ria and Tia, signing out!"

Well now, guess I know where I'm heading for lunch.

The multipurpose room was more crowded than I thought. In fact, it was so crowded that I could hardly find my way through. I had to admit, I didn't really expect a community service club to be so crowded.

"Yo, Ronnie!"

From the crowd, I could barely see Joe try to make his way through to me.

"Hey! You're in Key Club too?" he asked.

"Yeah, I signed up during orientation just to see what it was all about. Same with you, right?" I replied.

"Yeah...You thinking of participating?"

"Well, why not? Nothing bad comes out of helping the community right? Provided my dad let's me go of course."

"True, true. But your dad's got you on a tight leash, huh?"

I recoiled at his choice of words. "Bruh, it sounds weird when you put it like that. Please don't. You make it sound like...nevermind."

Joe simply laughed it off.

After a few minutes, we could hear the voices of several other students trying to calm the crowd down. Once the crowd had become quiet, we were then asked to sit down on the floor. With everyone sitting down, I was finally able to make out the faces of those who calmed the crowd down, as they were still standing.

Immediately, a couple of them grabbed out stacks of paper and started handing them out to each of us. On it were a list of the club leaders and what seemed to be a list of upcoming service opportunities. Sweeping the streets, aiding in carnival games, collecting water...huh. Didn't seem that bad. Once all the sheets were handed out, the short, pink-haired girl finally spoke up. "Well hello everyone! Welcome to the very first Key Club general meeting of the year! I'm Mar, a Maplestory Academy Senior and your Key Club President! As your president, I'm in charge of all the planning, organization, and carrying out of responsibilities related to this club."

Another guy soon stepped forward. He wore his uniform loosely, had ruffled hair and a band aid on his cheek as if he had recently gotten into a fight.

"I'm Shoon, a senior and your Vice-president. As your vice-president, I assist Mar with all her presidential duties since there's no way she can handle everything alone. That's why I'm here, so I can make sure she doesn't break down crying due to her responsibilities." At his remark, Mar gave him a soft slap on the shoulder.

Several more members then stepped up.

"I'm Mumzy, a Junior and your Treasurer. Of course as a treasurer, I keep track of the club's money and what it has gained and lost. I'm also responsible for setting the prices of our goods and using the money for club-related projects and items. I also provide the financial reports to Mar whenever she asks for them."

"I'm Shumi, a sophomore and your Secretary. As your secretary, my duties are to prepare meeting agendas, record all the board discussions, etcetera etcetera, but the most important of all, my duties is to maintain healthy communication with all of you club members, so if you guys have anything you want to talk about pertaining to this club, don't hesitate to ask me anything!" She said, making two peace signs.

"And we are Wing and Rowen, both seniors and your two Kiwanis Liaisons!"

"Well then," Mar started, "Before we continue, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you all on what key club is all about! Now you may be thinking that this is just some ordinary community service club, but that's not true at all! We are much, much more than that! We're a club that's part of Key Club international, which is an organization dedicated towards improving citizenship and all of humanity. Being apart of this club gives you the chance to be part of this organization and from there you'll be allowed to attend and participate in rallies and conventions with other schools, allowing you to build friendships and connections that will last a lifetime along with finding out more about your service, and even yourself!"

"That's right," Shoon continued, "We all promise to make community service fun for everyone. I'm positive all of your perspectives of community service will change after joining this club. Then again, if you're here because you want your college application to look good, that's fine with us too. Whether or not you put in your minimum effort just to fill up those hours, both you and the community are benefitting from it, so it's a win-win situation...I highly discourage putting in your minimum effort though."

We all chuckled lightly at that.

"We're all apart of this community aren't we? Let's keep it clean and friendly."

Despite looking somewhat like a hoodlum, it was refreshing to hear Shoon talk about a friendly community. Heck, I already wanted to sign up for an event right away.

"Anyway, enough with the introductions. How about you all look at the schedule we just gave you?"

Doing as I was told, I noticed that the sheet contained contact information of the board members along with some upcoming service events.

"As you can see, the sheet contains the contact info of all the board members from e-mail to phone number, so please save all of those in case you have any questions. We also already have some community service events ready despite it being early in the year, so don't hesitate to sign up. The earliest one we have so far is 'Help Sweep Edelstein's Streets!' and the head of this event is Mar, so I'll let Mar handle this."

"Thanks Shoon! To already have an event during our first meeting! Isn't that exciting? This is actually an even that's been going on for years at this school, where the Janitor, Brighton, asks students from this district to help him clean the streets of Edelstein since waste flows down the street often and kids there often make messes around. Although it's gotten better throughout the years, Brighton hasn't been getting any younger and the messes still persist, so we thought it'd be better to offer him our help! The event starts this friday at 3:30 pm and ends at 5:30 pm. So that'll earn you two hours of community service. Don't stall guys! Sign up even if you're not sure if you'll go before spots run out! I'll see you there!"

The other event was headed by Shoon. It was an event that called for students to work at carnival booths in Monster Park. Since it was on Monday and started at 8:00 and lasted until 11:00, however, I made a mental cross on that event. Way too late for me.

"You signing up for anything, Ronnie?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking of sweeping the streets. Occurs not long after school and doesn't end too late. I'm sure dad would at least let me stay out this late. You?"

"I was thinking the same thing. Carnal booth sounds fun, but it's way too late for me…" I heard Joe mumble something after that, but decided not to question it.

* * *

I was surprised how easily dad let me go to the event. Sure, he was no stranger to letting me do community service, but in middle school, most of the service I performed was in the school itself. You know, making sandwiches for the hungry and what not. This here was probably the first time I was allowed to go out of school for service. Well, the first time in a while anyway.

Edelstein was only a fifteen minute drive away from home. Looking around, you could see technology everywhere. Brick buildings were often mixed with solar panels, turning gears and high clocks. There was probably one factory every few blocks producing who knows what, and while there were traffic lights around, several police officers stood at intersections, guiding the traffic and bowing as cars passed by.

"Talk about industrialization…" Dad said. Nevertheless, our destination wasn't too far away from the entrance into the town. Once I saw a group of familiar faces, I asked dad to drop me off and let me walk there.

 **"Nhớ nhe, nếu cần gì thì gọi ba!** " dad then waved at me before driving away. (Remember to call me if you need anything!)

"Ronnie!" Spotting Joe, I walked over and stood by him. After a few minutes, a man pushing a cart full of brooms appeared from one of the buildings. He was also helped by Mar who pushed the cart along with him. Once all the carts were outside, Mar then gathered all of us.

"Hey everyone! Thank you so much for attending this event and helping sweep the streets! Before we get started, I'd like all of you to please head over to the tables near the entrance to the building we just came from and sign in. From there, we'll know who you are and keep track of your service hours! After that, just go ahead and grab a broom and start sweeping. We'll also be handing out some trash bags to everyone later so you guys can all collect the trash and throw it away. Sound good? Good. Well anyway, before we get started, would you like to say anything, Mr. Brighton?"

The man nodded his head and slowly stepped forward to the crowd.

"I've been sweeping these streets for over thirty years, starting from when this town was first started all the way to now. I've seen people come and go, I've seen kids grow up, and I've seen all the technological improvements occur. But one thing hasn't changed, and that is the disregard for the environment. I mean, I'd be without a job if the streets were always clean, but as someone who lives in this town, I'd like to see some more of us care for it, you know? That said, I'm thankful for your service. I know most of you here are probably here to get your hours, but regardless, you all did take some time out of your lives to help, so I'm grateful for any amount of effort you put in."

Nodding one last time, Brighton silently went back to sweeping the streets.

"Thanks, Mr. Brighton!" Mar said. "Well everyone, let's get to cleaning!"

After signing up for both myself and Joe, I grabbed brooms and dustpans for the both of us. I then walked down to near the school with Joe and together we started sweeping.

"Dang, talk about dirty…" Joe mumbled.

Mr. Brighton was right, the streets were pretty dirty. Paper stacks, leftover oil, some unusable gears and coal, to think that he had to deal with this nearly everyday of his life…And in less than ten minutes, we had already formed a pile.

After receiving our trash bags from Mar, we then loaded everything we had sweeped up, filling up the bag about three-quarters of the way.

"We really need more of these…" I sighed.

"Yeah…"

Despite all the sweeping though, it was nice to see the streets getting cleaner. Moving through the town, we saw other students sweeping the streets like us. Based on their white dress shirts, purple sweater vests and black ties, it was obvious they weren't from MapleStory Academy.

"Seems like we're not the only school helping out."

"Yup! Looking at their uniforms, they're probably from the Private School for the Gifted. A lot of our extracurricular activities often coincide with theirs so it's not surprising we see them around." Joe said. "A lot of them have friends who go here, so it's not even surprising to see them at school either."

"You seem to know a lot about that school. Where'd you get all that info?"

"My friend goes there, you know, the one I talked to you about."

"Oh, you mean your not-girlfriend?"

"She is not-wait, yeah. She's my not-girlfriend. She's...just a friend." Joe then scratched his head and looked elsewhere. "Oh look, there's some more trash."

He didn't really sound too confident when he was saying she wasn't his girlfriend, but it didn't really matter to me. What did matter to me, however…

"So...are you going to introduce me to her or...you going to introduce her to me…? Bruh, I feel like I'm being left out of something here."

"Ehh...yeah. Maybe when she's open to making more friends. Don't worry, you'll get to meet here soon...just don't expect her to be nice."

Joe didn't say anything more about her after that. But at least now I knew there was some reason he was hesitant to talk about her. Nevertheless, we sweeped a few more streets until our two hours were nearly over. Loading the last of our trash bags in the dispenser, we then headed back to where we once met.

"Chop chop everyone! Let's get the last of those trash bags in! What's taking you all so long?"

Looking back, I could see a group of students from Seoul's Private High School for the Gifted head to the trash dispenser. They were mainly boys huffing and puffing in a single file line, except for one girl who was by the side, directing the line. The boys were all sweaty, with their ties mainly loosened and those who had managed to throw them into the dispenser all sat down and breathed heavily.

"Something wrong, man?" Joe asked.

"Uh, no, not really. Why don't you go ahead, I'll catch up later." I replied.

"Alright. I'll see you then."

As Joe ran off, I could see the last guy struggling a bit with his load as he constantly took breaths while lifting.

"Here, let me help you with that." I said, lifting the bag along with him to lighten his load.

"Thanks," he huffed. With one final grunt, we managed to throw the last trash bag in. As soon as it went in, the girl who was directing the line instantly huffed.

"Francis, I can't believe you actually let a student from a rival school help you with such a menial task! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

To my surprise, the boy's look only drooped for about a second before it brightened up again. "I'm sorry Miss Orchid!" He saluted. "I'll try harder next time."

"You had well better, you didn't just embarrass the school, you embarrassed me as well!"

Looking at the girl, I saw that unlike the boys, she had no marks anywhere on her uniform, skin, or silvery hair. Not even a trace of sweat. She had a black blazer draped over her shoulders and also held a cup of coffee in her right hand. It was obvious that she did little to no work. Although it probably wasn't my business, seeing the way she just ordered them around did tick me a little. Francis didn't deserve to be yelled at for helping the community.

"Oh come on, isn't this just community service? What's so bad about me helping out just a little? It's fine as long as the trash is disposed of and the streets are clean, right? No need to be so bossy."

For some reason, I noticed some of the boys (Francis included) looking at me in horror and shaking their heads as if I was committing some kind of grave sin. But regardless, I shook it off. I knew what I was doing was right.

"Excuse me?!" The girl said, walking over to me and looking at me in the eye. "Do you even know who you're talking to?!"

I won't lie, that loud yell probably would have been intimidating if she was taller than me, but as of right now, she hardly stood above my shoulders, so it was hard to think of her as any threat or authoritarian figure.

"No, but frankly, I don't really care. You know, if you wanted everyone to be done with their work earlier, maybe you could've at least helped them with the sweeping and cleaning? You know, instead of just standing around and yelling at those who are well, _actually_ doing the work?"

To my surprise her hardened expression softened and she bursted out laughing.

"Ah...ahahahahahahahaha! Doing the actual work?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's hilarious!"

Okay, I really don't know what her deal is, but her laughing at me was really annoying me. The heck was so funny about that?! Nevertheless, she soon calmed down in a matter of seconds and grabbed me by the shoulder.

"Hm, you know, initially I thought you as some kind of uneducated peasant for not knowing who I am, but I've decided to look past that. You're pretty interesting and I kinda like you. What's your name? And while you're at it, why don't you give me your number? I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other often."

Uh…

"What...the…?"

 _ **What should Aaron do?**_

 **1\. Give her his name and phone number. No harm in doing so. Maybe this was a rough start and they could be friends in the future. Besides, it's better to make some friends in a new environment rather than enemies.**

 **2\. Don't give her his name or phone number. Whoever she is, she definitely has some authority over the students in her school. She could use his name and number to spread some rumors. Best not to risk anything.**

 **(First reader interactive chapter guys! Leave your thoughts in the reviews!)**

* * *

 ***Sigh* So tired...now then, time to study.**

* * *

 **Name: Joseph Emes (Likes to be called Joe, hates being called Emmie or Joey)**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Birthdate: December 22**

 **Age: 14-15**

 **Height: 5 feet 8 inches**

 **Interests: Sports, music, kickboxing, also wants to start a Youtube channel.**

 **Hobbies: Kickboxing, Playing his guitar, soccer.**

 **Personality: Loyal and friendly. Also very outgoing; has a lot of friends from different places.**

 **Appearance: Black shaggy-waxed hair, usually in skinny jeans and a leather jacket.**

 **Favorite Bands: Orangutanz, TWO OK ROCK, Twelve Pilots, Bring Me the Sunset, All Time High**

 **Interesting info: Aaron's childhood friend since kindergarten. Both bonded over their love of soccer and music and attended the same school until after sixth grade, which was when they both moved away due to their parents' jobs. However, they managed to stay in contact through phone calls, text, email, and eventually social media.** **His family is rich, since his father is CEO of Elnath Inc. and his mother a renowned doctor. However, their relationship is strained because they don't have much time for their son. They are always out of the country because of their work. Joe has been living alone in a medium sized house ever since he was fourteen, and his parents send him money for food and water every month while they themselves pay for the water and electrical bills. He also has an obsession with making friends due to his fear of experiencing loneliness, which is why he makes as many as possible.**

 **Took up kickboxing in elementary school and was a Junior Kickboxing Champion for four years in a row. Because of his training, he possesses immense strength and reflexes faster than Aaron's. If they were to fight, he could take Aaron out in a matter of minutes. Regarding Aaron's father...who knows.**

 **There's also a girl around his age who visits his house daily and even cooks for him. They even have sleepovers often, however, their parents seem to be strangely fine with it...**


	5. Sports

**Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

 **Edit: I've started uploading profiles of characters in the story starting from chapter 1! From now on, I'll probably post one per chapter.**

* * *

I think about thirty seconds passed between us before she finally said something.

"Well?! Are you going to give your number or not? Stop staring and give me your number already!" She huffed.

Wait, she was serious? After everything that had just happened earlier...

"Wait...so just like that? You're just going to ask for my number?" I asked just to make sure she meant what she said earlier. I felt like there was something going on here...you don't just get riled up just so you can ask for a phone number. At least I don't think so.

"Look, if you're not gonna give me your number, just hurry and go away to avoid wasting my time. Otherwise get on with it already!" She then exasperatedly held out her hand as if expecting me to give her my phone.

"Alright fine, whatever." As I handed her my phone, she took a moment to examine it. Tossing it, looking at the brand, I also think I caught a smirk out of her.

"Oh look, people actually still use these." she whispered, although I could hear her very clearly.

I sighed. I couldn't believe this was happening right now.

"Catch." Right then, I saw my phone flying at me. In a little panic, I fumbled a little with it, desperately trying not to let it fall to the ground. My phone flipped a few times in between my hands before it finally securely landed in my palm. Once I finally got a secure grip on it, I exhaled, just realizing I was holding my breath.

"You know, this isn't yours! I'd appreciate it if you would handle it with more care and actually hand it to me instead of tossing it!" I yelled as she walked away.

Without even turning around, she waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, calm down. If your phone breaks all you have to do is buy a new one! In fact, why are you still keeping that thing? Hurry up and upgrade already! You're making yourself look poor by keeping it!"

I think I saw the guy named Francis bow as he walked away with her, but at that point I was too angry to care about that.

"You freaking…!"

"Ronnie!" Turning back, I saw Joe ushering me to come over. Behind him was a crowd of fellow students putting away the brooms and dustpans and gathering around Mar. Rushing back to where we first gathered, I stood by Joe and together we stood amongst the crowd for a final word from Mar.

"Alright everyone! Thank you so much for participating in this event! Mr. Brighton also gives you all his thanks for sweeping the streets and taking a huge load off of his back! For those of you who also signed up to volunteer in the carnival, don't forget that the carnival event is right around the corner so free up your schedules if you're going to go! Anyway with that said, you're free! Again, thank you so much and I'll see you all next week!"

After Mar's speech, I immediately texted dad to pick me up. Joe then tapped me on the shoulder and showed me his phone.

"Hey man, check it out! Preseason basketball and volleyball are over and Lapis and Beta just invited us to come to their first games! See?" Looking at the texts shown on his phone, I noticed that Joe was sent a redeemable code for a ticket.

"Well that's cool and all, but are you sure it's us? I think you're the only one here who received it."

"What? Nah man, they even said you specifically! Just check your phone!"

Sure enough, as soon as he said that, my phone vibrated and two unread text notifications appeared on the screen. Tapping on the first message, it read:

" _Hey Aaron! Just in case you didn't know, my first basketball game is next thursday! Here's a code that you can use to get a ticket from the student bank instead of having to pay the regular fee."_

Right under the text was a jumble of capital letters and numbers.

" _Take this opportunity and use it while you can, this is the only time students will be getting free tickets."_

Upon tapping on the second text, I found the contents to be more or less the same. An invite, a code, and encouragement, although this time it was from Beta and to be for a varsity volleyball game instead of basketball.

"So, you thinking of going?" he asked me.

"Well I wanna go, but...I have to make sure with my dad first." I replied.

"Ah right, you have curfew."

"I'm sure he'll say yes though. He usually encourages me to go to games anyway."

"I hope so. I hate watching games alone. It feels so weird. But anyway, what's up with curfew now? Back when we were in elementary school I'm sure your dad let us stay out until six or seven."

Joe was right. Back in elementary school dad allowed me to play outside for as long as I wanted as long as I had finished my homework. I scratched my head a little, trying to remember why it had become so.

Hmmm….

Ah...right.

"Well, some things happened in middle school and-ah!"

 _*HONK*_

Before I could finish my sentence, dad pulled up near the sidewalk where we stood. Not wanting to keep him waiting, I said my goodbye to Joe.

Before he drove off, dad rolled down the window and called out to Joe. " **Con có muốn chú chở con về không?** " he asked. (Do you want me to take you home?)

"No thanks! My dad's already coming!" Joe replied.

Nodding, dad then rolled the window back up probably to prevent the polluted air from entering the car. He was always picky about keeping his car clean.

"I'll tell you the rest later!" I said, as I entered the car. After closing the door, dad immediately drove off.

"So, how was the event?" he asked.

"It was fine. Just cleaned up is all."

"Is that it? **Có chuyện gì đặc biệt không**?" (Did anything special happen?)

"Well, I was invited to go to some games next week. Basketball and Volleyball, and they're both on different days. May I?" I asked him.

"Hmm…" Despite it being a matter that could affect my curfew, dad's face made it seem like he didn't really care all that much about it. "Alright." he finally said, "But after you're done, **con về liền. Hiểu chưa**?" (...come home immediately. Understand?)

Whoo! And speaking of coming home after school hours...

"And since I'm in highschool now, can I not have a curfew? If I stay late I can just text you." I asked.

"No." He curtly replied.

Well, it was worth a shot.

* * *

(Tuesday)

Taking my two tickets from the cashier, I headed to the gym and sat in the third row from the bottom of the stadium where Alpha, Lapis, and Joe sat. Taking a glance at what they had, Alpha had a large box of popcorn most likely only for himself seeing as how it was already halfway empty and he grabbed handfuls after every few seconds of chewing. Lapis also had a lunch or dinner box set which contained a hotdog and a burger with chips and a drink while Joe only had a juice box.

Taking notice of me, Alpha and Joe waved while Lapis tapped on the empty seat next to his.

"No food for you, man?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm not hungry." I replied. Looking down on the court, I could already see both teams practising for the match which was scheduled to begin within half an hour. There were two nets which occupied two sides of the court. One side contained students in red and black while another side contained students in only dark blue. Seeing as how Beta, who was easily noticeable with her bright blonde hair, was in a black and red uniform, it was easy to tell that those were our school colors. As they practiced, I saw one girl bounce the ball with her forearm and another use her palms to pass the ball to Beta, who jumped high to perform a vicious spike. The ball connecting with her teammate's forearm emitted a large thumping sound. It was loud enough that it elicited gasps from members of of the audience.

"Whoo! Get 'em girl!" Lapis shouted as he clapped. As a result, Beta turned to us and gave a peace sign.

"Whoa there," Alpha said, "Whaddya think you're doing? Hands off my sister pal."

"Oh, chill out. I'll keep my hands completely clean of her." Lapis chuckled.

"Yeah, you better. Last thing she needs is another guy to be in her life. She only needs me, her awesome bro. Speaking of siblings, where's Lazuli? Is she not coming?" Alpha asked.

"She should be. She even has a ticket." Lapis replied.

"Lazuli?" I asked.

"Lapis's twin sister. Also his polar opposite." Joe chimed in. "She's not really used to talking to strangers, has a stuck-up attitude, and likes putting you down every opportunity she gets. I mean, I've known her for about two years, and I still don't think she likes me. Right Lapis?"

"Right. I think the only people she really ever talks to are me, Alpha and Beta. Don't worry if she gives you the cold shoulder. It's just Lazuli being Lazuli. Heck with that attitude, it's a miracle she made on the Varsity cheer squad, much less the cheering squad in general."

"Hey, shut up!"

"Hm?"

Looking behind Alpha, another girl took her seat beside him. Looking at her now, I think I recognized her. Yeah, an off-center ponytail and bluish-gray hair along with a book...I'm pretty sure she was the girl who sat next to me in math class.

"Oh look who decided to show up!" Lapis laughed.

"I only came because Beta gave me a free ticket!" the girl huffed, returning to her book.

"Really? Are you sure it's not because of A-oof!" before Lapis could finish, Lazuli hurled her book at him, which only made him laugh harder.

"Welp, there she is Aaron," Joe said to me. "Lazuli in the flesh."

It seemed like she heard Joe say my name since she looked in our direction. I think our eyes met as well, but if she was looking at me or recognized me, she didn't show it.

"Shut it, Emmie." she said. Welp, guess she really heard him.

"Aw geez, not that nickname…" he sighed.

After a few minutes, a whistle blew, and the two teams then regrouped to prepare for the very first volleyball game of the year. It was also at this time that I realized that the whole stadium was packed with a mixture of students, parents and whoever else. Looking around, I couldn't even find one chair that was unoccupied.

"Isn't this only the first game of the season?" I asked. "Why the heck is it so crowded? Do people really get excited for these as much as playoff or national games?"

"Well playoffs or not, we all want to show our support, right? And besides, one of our school's biggest strengths is our extracurricular activities. Sports especially." Alpha explained. "Our girl's volleyball team has often won national tournaments, so for newcomers like us, it makes sense that we all want to see what they're all about, right? I'm sure the same applies to everyone else here. Besides, it's not just students from our school. Students from other schools are also attending this game most likely to collect some data to improve their chances of winning."

"So we're really that good?"

"Basically, yeah."

Geez. How did I get into this school again?

"So who are we up against?" I asked.

"Based on the uniform colors, most likely Mabinogi High." Lapis replied. "They're not too shabby, actually. They're below us both in education and extracurriculars but they're not too far off. Those who can't afford to go here often go there. They often place either third or fourth in the league so this could be a good match."

Right after the whistle blew, the teams immediately got into their positions. Our team had their backs facing us so it was easy to see who was positioned where. The one in the right corner then tossed the ball up and performed a jump serve with the ball, causing it to bounce off the arms of an opposing player and out of the court. Because it had touched the opposing player's arms before it went out of bounds, the point then went to us.

"So what position does Beta play?" I asked, noticing her on the left side of the front row.

"Opposite hitter." Alpha replied, "She's the main scorer of the team, be it blocking or spiking. She also doesn't really have the passing or playmaking responsibilities as the others do. All she has to do is wait for the ball to come to her and rip it. Like right now."

Surely enough, I noticed one of the players pass the ball in Beta's direction. Once it was close enough, she leapt into the air and slammed the ball hard into the ground, creating a sound loud enough to resonate throughout the court. At the sound, the crowd jumped and cheered. I had to admit, even I thought itt was one hell of a spike.

The rallies, scores and cheers continued until the end. And by the time the game was over, we had won two straight sets. The scores were **25-20** and **25-18**.Mabinogi High really put up a fight. When the match was over, the two teams shook hands with each other and left for the locker room.

"Whew! That was surprisingly intense." I said.

"Truth. For a team who often places fourth, they sure came close." Joe added.

"This also might be the best performance they put against us." Lapis said. "I don't think they've ever scored twenty points against us. Anyway, are you guys coming Thursday? That's when I have my first game."

"Yeah, of course! By the way, congrats on being on the varsity team!" we said.

"Heh, thanks! Make sure to get the best seats."

* * *

(Thursday)

All of us had gotten our tickets early to see Lapis's game right after school, only this time were joined with Beta instead of Lapis himself. I was actually a little more excited for this game, since I knew a lot more about basketball than volleyball. Heck all the information I had on volleyball came from a manga…

Maybe relying on manga isn't too good of an idea...

Taking seats in the middle row where we could have a better all-around view, we could see both teams within their respective locker rooms waiting to be introduced.

"So who are we up against today? Is it still Mabinogi High?" I asked.

"Nope it's actually Vindictus High." Beta said. "Their education is above average, but sports is what they take pride in the most, especially when it comes to basketball or football. Although I don't think they ever won against us, they've come close pretty often."

"I see. By the way, where did you get all that information?" I asked.

"I got bored so I did some research on them while we're waiting for the game to start. Most of the info is on their school's website anyway."

Suddenly, the lights in the stadium began to dim and our only sources of light were the thin, moving light beams that moved in a way similar to searchlights. Then, an announcer started introducing the players, stating their number, team, grade, position, and finally name. Soon after the first person was introduced, Lapis' name came up.

" _ **AND NOW, NUMBER 2 FROM MAPLESTORY ACADEMY, GRADE NINE, SHOOTING GUARD, LAPIIIIIIIIISSSSS KESHOOOOO!"**_

All of us stood up and roared in applause as we saw Lapis emerging from the locker room in his warmups, doing the dougie and high-fiving his teammates as he passed them by and making his way to line up behind the half-court line. Noticing us, he held up a peace sign.

So he was a shooting guard, huh? In that case, he was most likely the main scorer of the team. Seeing him come up so early, he was also likely a starter on the team, the _varsity_ team. The team composed of the school's best about it now, all of that nervousness and doubt towards making the varsity team and being a starter almost seemed like a lie. I guess this went to show how skilled and talented he really was. I think I'm feeling a little jealous here…

Looking back at our group, I noticed one more person was missing.

"Oh, Lazuli isn't here either. Is she busy?"

Beta giggled at that. "Yeah, you could say that."

When all of the players were introduced, the cheerleaders then took the court and started dancing and chanting while the players got ready. I was surprised to see that the cheerleading squad actually consisted of both boys and girls, but regardless, the cheers really had me hyped for the game.

" _I SAID BRRR! IT'S COLD IN HERE! THERE MUST BE SOME MAPLERS IN THE ATMOSPHERE!..."_ they cheered.

Among the crowd I could see someone vaguely familiar...yeah with her bluish hair and off-center ponytail…

"Wait...so when you guys mentioned a Lazuli in the varsity cheering squad...you weren't talking about the Lazuli from two days ago were you?" I asked.

"Oh we definitely were." Beta said with a knowing smile. "Surprising, isn't it?"

Whaaaaat?! The girl who only focused on her book two days ago is a cheerleader in the varsity squad?!

"Don't worry Ronnie," Joe chimed in, "Alpha and I both were just as shocked as you were when we first found out."

Right when they said that, I noticed several members performing backflips at a rapid pace. With her short height and blue hair flipping wildly, I easily noticed Lazuli as one of them.

"Whoooo! Get 'em Laz!" Alpha cheered as Lazuli finished off with what looked like a triple somersault.

Geez...who would've known?

By then, the noise in the stadium had reached its peak as the players entered the court in uniform. Looking at them now, I realized that nearly all of them dwarfed Lapis save for a few players, who were most likely the point guards.

Finally, as the referee came to the center of the court in the middle of the tallest players from opposing teams, he tossed the ball up vertically, and both players jumped to reach the ball after it started falling.

We were more fortunate, since the tallest player on our team jumped earlier to reach the ball and pass it back to one of the players. As the ball moved closer toward the goal, he then passed it toward Lapis, who was open and shot the ball immediately.

Cheers erupted as we all saw the ball move down through the net, and because he was behind the three-point line, it counted for three points.

"Whoo! Nice one!"

The Vindictus High players then took the ball and attempted to pass it to one of their big men, only for it to be stolen by Lapis. We immediately stood up in suspense as he ran away with the ball and yelled at the top of our lungs when we saw him finish off by performing a vicious reverse dunk.

"OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the crowd's cheers were so loud that not even I could hear my own voice as I yelled.

Once more, the Vindictus High players took the ball and moved it towards their goal net, but this time with faster ball movement. Once one of the shorter players received the ball, he stalled a little bit and moved behind the three-point line before faking a shot, making one of our players jump up in an attempt to block it. Once he was in the air, the player immediately jumped up and drew contact with the blocker before shooting the ball.

The sound of the whistle was heard as the left the ball player's hand and circled around the rim before finally falling through the hoop. The basket counted and they were awarded one free throw. If the free throw went in, they would have scored four points, one point behind us.

As the players gathered around at the free throw line, the player who drew the foul was given the ball by the referee. He then bounced the ball a couple times before shooting it. After leaving his hands, the ball then bounced off the rim and went towards the side, away from the hoop.

" _Yes! It didn't go in!_ " But it seemed like his teammates were prepared for that, as the tallest player, most likely their center, on their team immediately jumped up to grab the ball and slam back into the hoop. Because the ball was in the center's hand before it went through the hoop, the basket counted for two points. They were now tied with us.

"Dang, now that's some gutsy play right there. Can't tell if the miss was intentional or not but even then, it takes skill to pull off something like that." Joe said.

I had to agree. To make a shot while having your vision slightly obscured and perform a putback dunk took lots of skill and accurate timing. It was easy to tell Vindictus High really wanted to win against us.

Regardless of the play, we didn't seem to be letting up and the game continued without losing its intensity. After several time-outs, a halftime, and many free-throws, the game finally ended with the score being **65-57**. With the **65** belonging to us. As we got up and left, I could also feel my throat becoming sore with all the shouting I had done.

As we saw him leave the locker room, we then went down to congratulate Lapis on the victory.

"Yo, congrats on the win, man!" Joe exclaimed, with a voice probably more hoarse than mine.

"Thanks man! Though it was still only the first game." he replied.

"So what was this about worrying about being a starter and getting some play time on the Varsity team?" I asked him. "You obviously were starting and it looked like you were on the court for about three quarters. You trying to humble yourself or something? You even dunked!"

Lapis chuckled nervously at that "Well, it IS still the first game though, I could still lose my starting spot. We'll see..."

I couldn't really tell whether or not he was being honest about his doubt and uncertainty, but even if he wasn't he still had a point. More often than not in sports, bench players were sometimes the ones who started in early games. Doing this lowered the risk of injury to starter players and gave the starters time to save energy and prepare themselves for future, tougher games. I would've been nervous as well if I were him.

"Alpha!"

From within the gym, Lazuli emerged with her hair let down and cheer uniform covered by warmups.

Latching onto Alpha's arm, she pulled him away from us and into the gym. I don't know if she was trying to have a private conversation, but if she was, she was doing a terrible job at it.

"Did you see them?! Did you see my flips?!" she asked him excitedly.

"Oh er...yeah! They were uh...great I guess?" he sheepishly responded.

Her eyebrows then furrowed as if she didn't believe him. She then dragged him elsewhere, possibly to scold him or something. Beta then chased after them probably to break it up.

"Heh. She really sucks at being subtle, even when she denies it." Joe said.

"Tell me about it. It's like he's the center of her life or something. Living with her makes it even more annoying." Lapis then added.

Seeing as how I had no idea about what they were talking about, I decided to ask. "Subtle about what?"

Both of them turned to me with incredulous looks.

"...What?" I asked again."

It took a few seconds, but they they then softened their expressions.

"Well, just hang around her a little longer and you'll get it." Lapis sighed.

"Yeah. I mean, assuming you didn't really know what just happened between them there." Joe added.

Not really knowing or caring about what they were talking about, I decided to drop the matter. It wasn't really my business and I'd probably figure it out along the way anyway.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lazuli emerge from within the gym, this time her arm wrapped tightly around Alpha's with Beta behind them.

Lapis! We're going!" She shouted, before dragging an unwilling Alpha along with her.

"Welp, that's my cue to go. I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Lapis then saluted before running after them. Joe and I waved back as we saw them go.

"My dad's picking me up again today. Do you want to hitch a ride?" I asked. "He wouldn't mind. He offered the other day too."

"Actually, could I? Nights are getting pretty chilly now."

"Hey you guys!"

Turning back to the source of the voice, not really sure if it was addressed to us, we saw someone in uniform chasing after us. As he got closer and his face was illuminated by the night lights, I recognized him as Cristiano of the soccer team.

Upon reaching us, he took a few breaths before talking. "Hey guys…*whew* Do ya'll remember me? I'm-"

"Cristiano. Captain of the soccer team." Joe finished for him.

"Oh so you do remember! Well that saves me time. Anyway listen, soccer tryouts are just in a few weeks. Have you guys made your decisions yet?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, totally! So when is tryouts again?" Joe asked.

"About two weeks."

"Awesome. What about you, Ronnie? You joining?" he asked me.

I scratched my head.

 _Aw man, I actually totally forgot about it…_

"I uh...actually haven't decided yet...can the decision wait though?" I asked.

"Yeah sure! Just make sure you decide before tryouts start. Otherwise it'll be too late. I just talked to your other friend earlier and he gave me a thumbs up, so I then decided to check on you guys. Anyway, I'll be going now. Hope to see ya'll there!" Cristiano then ran off, most likely towards the parking lot seeing as how he had keys in his hand.

"So...you thinking of joining?" Joe asked as we resumed our walk towards the front of the school.

"I really want to join...but it all depends on whether or not dad lets me."

We soon reached the front gate along with several other students. Spotting dad's clean blue car from amongst the line of cars on the street, Joe and I ran down the sidewalk to where he was and immediately got ourselves in the back seats. There was no need to ask for dad's permission seeing as how he offered to take Joe almost every time, so he got in dad's car after me as if it was just like any other day.

" **Dạ con chào chú!** " he saluted to dad. (Formal greeting to a male adult. "Hello sir!")

" **Oh! Chào con. Con khoẻ không?"** dad replied.(Hello. How are you doing?)

"Pretty normal. Just like any other day. We just watched a basketball game, that's all."

"Really? That's neat. So did your team win?"

"Yup. It was pretty close too."

"I see. **Trường, con có thấy vui không?** " (Aaron, did you enjoy the game?)

"Yeah, **con** **cũng thấy vui**. It's nothing compared to watching professionals though." (I also enjoyed it.)

Noticing Rose in the front seat, Joe waved to her.

"Hi, **An Nhiên**." He said, "Do you remember me?"

"Mmmm…" Rose turned back and examined him, as if trying to remember, but then shook her head. "Mm-mm."

"Haha, She probably wouldn't remember you at all. She was only about three or four when we moved away." Dad then turned to Rose. " **Con nhớ không? Joe là bạn của anh hai khi anh hai còn nhỏ. Một lần con thấy khi anh hai đi bộ về, và con cũng hỏi 'đó là ai?' nhớ không?"** (Don't you remember? Joe is your big brother's childhood friend. You even asked who he was when we saw him walk home from school.)

"Ooohhh…" Although she said that, I didn't really think Rose remembered.

"Haha, don't worry. Maybe we can do some catching up later."

We then reached Joe's house and dropped him off. After waving goodbye, dad then took us home.

" **Con có đói không? Ba mua đồ ăn nè.** " Dad said, grabbing out some burgers.

"Oh, thanks!" While watching the game, I hadn't realized how hungry I was and gobbled down two of them.

Looking at dad, he was across the table, scribbling down some notes most likely about his patients. For a while there was silence between us.

" **Ba**?" I asked.

"Hm?"

"Would you be willing to extend my curfew?"

He then stopped writing and tapped his pen on his chin.

" **Tại sao con hỏi**?" (Why do you ask?)

"Well, aside from wanting to hang out with friends, I was hoping to stay behind at school to do some club activities and you know...maybe join a sport."

"Hmm…"

…

"Hmmmmm…."

...

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm….."

…

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…?"

…

"HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM…..!"

…

Come on… come on...

"...Well alright. At least you're going out more. I'll _extend_ your curfew. But you still have to come home at the designated time, alright?"

"Alright!"

I exhaled a breath I didn't know I was holding. I was surprised, seeing dad come to a decision so quickly regarding extending my curfew. No use doting on it now though, with dad's OK, I could finally come to a decision.

 **Should I join the Soccer team?**

 **1\. Yes. I enjoy playing soccer, Joe and Alpha are joining, and it's not like I do anything at home after I'm done with homework anyway. Plus, I'll be able to meet new people and make some new friends. It's a win-win situation.**

 **2\. No, I probably shouldn't. I like soccer and all, but joining the soccer team may jeopardize my grades. It's better not to play a sport when I could be using some of that time studying.**

* * *

 **Name: Alpha Zero**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Birthday: January 1**

 **Appearance: Blonde hair, red eyes, considered very attractive by his many peers.**

 **Height: 5 feet 9 inches.**

 **Interests: Sports, modeling, photography, music. (Don't ask him to sing though)**

 **Hobbies: Soccer, basketball, volleyball, singing,** **surfing, free running, dancing,** **children's card games.**

 **Dream Job: Model.**

 **Interesting info: Born at exactly midnight on January first, while his sister is ten minutes younger than him. Despite his somewhat arrogant and cocky attitude, he still maintains a close relationship a lot of his peers. His mother is a high school principal, which is why both he and his sister have exceptional grades. Because of his looks, he is extremely popular with men and women and has received numerous love letters. Lapis has remarked that his appeal seemed to be a little too universal, as he seemed to attract people of all ages.**

 **He joined a youth soccer club with Joe when he was younger, which is how developed his soccer skills. Thanks to Lazuli, he also knows how to do parkour and free running and perform several stunts. He, Beta, Lapis, and Lazuli sometimes go on free running sprees together.**


	6. Joining the Team

**Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

 **NOTE: I decided to change Rose's Viet name from** ** _Minh Thư_ to _An Nhiên_ because I found her old name too tacky. So if you guys read ****_An Nhiên_ in the future or previous chapters, just know that it's Rose.**

* * *

 _Inhale...exhale...inhale...exhale…_

"You nervous?"

I bent down and extended my right leg back as far as I could while keeping my entire foot on the ground and repeated the process for my left.

"A little bit," I admitted, "I've never tried out before, even during middle school. I was too nervous because of my weight then."

"Try to relax, you'll be fine. Heck, I bet you'll do better than me." Joe said, as he finished up with his butterfly stretch.

"So, what are you guys aiming for?" Alpha asked, stretching his quads, "Varsity? Junior Varsity?"

"Varsity of course." I replied, "But it's pretty unlikely. I've haven't played soccer competitively for a while so I'm pretty out of shape. What about you guys?"

"Varsity for us as well. Since we joined an after-school club and also joined a middle school team, I think we have a pretty good chance. Don't worry about your chances, remember what Cristiano said? If you have the passion, you'll probably make it. Besides what're you so worried about? It's not tryouts yet."

He had a point. Right now all we were doing was conditioning, which was preparing us for tryouts, and those were in a few days from now. More people came to conditioning than I thought. If I were to come up with an estimate, I'd say about fifty people were present during the first day of tryouts. We were all gathered in a circle on the field in the small stadium performing stretches as we waited for the coach to arrive. After a few minutes, Mr. Dances With Balrog (Or "coach" or "Mr. DWB" as I'll call him from now on) appeared in his usual T-shirt and shorts.

"Alright everyone, finish up your stretches and gather up behind the starting line of the track." he said.

We did as we were told while he stood by the sidelines.

"Alright now, we'll be doing two laps around the track for as a warmup. We'll split into groups of eight. You're welcome to jog or run, but you can't walk, understood?"

I then grouped with Alpha and Joe as the first group to run.

"Ready? Go!"

I started off with my normal running pace, which wasn't too fast or slow, but just fast enough to keep me running for a while. I seemed to be doing well seeing as how I couldn't see anybody behind me as I ran. Right when I finished my first lap, I saw the next group prepare to start running.

It wasn't until I reached the 200 meter mark of my second lap did I hear footsteps approaching me from behind. Taking a quick glance back, I saw Alpha's feet quickly approaching mine. Not wanting to finish second, I then took a deep breath and sprinted the final 200 meters. As I passed the finish line, I looked back and saw Alpha and Joe side by side and a few paces behind. It took a few seconds for them to catch up and by the time they did, they were both breathing harder than I was.

"Dang...where did you...get that speed?" They asked between breaths.

"Well, I have been running for a while…" I replied, a little surprised myself.

After we finished running on the track, we then moved onto sprints. Rows and columns of cones were placed on the field, with each cone being about 5 yards away from each other and going all the way across the field.

"Alright everyone, onto the next exercise," Mr. DWB started, "This time your goal is to run to each of these cones and back and repeat the process until you reach the end of the field. First, run to the 5 yard mark and back, then to the ten yard mark and back, and so on. Your goal is to perform this exercise as fast as you can and we'll be repeating this about five times. Well then, with that said, group up evenly into lines."

As I stood in front of the field, Joe and Alpha then stood behind me, making me the first runner.

"Ready? Go!"

Immediately, I set off. Five, then back. Ten, then back. Fifteen, then back…

It was at around the fifty yard mark that I felt myself becoming short of oxygen. With every step, it almost felt as if my heart was about to burst through my chest. By the time I reached the end cone, my running pace had been reduced to that of a jog.

"Come on, Ronnie! Just a few more steps!" I heard Joe shout.

I don't know how I managed to finish, but by then, I was just relieved to be able to rest. Slowly walking to the back of the line while breathing hard, I saw that there were quite a few others ahead of me. That was good, since it gave me more time to rest. When Joe and Alpha finished, they looked to be in no better shape than I was. In fact, they probably looked worse, seeing as how Joe seemed to be wheezing while Alpha had his back on the ground. This continued on for four more runs and by the time we were done, barely any of us could walk, much less stand. Looking at the seniors whom I recognized, all of them seemed fine, as if they were used to it. I almost scoffed. What are they, superhuman?

"We're not done yet gentlemen, will still have one more exercise to go!" Mr. DWB clapped, bringing us over from the field to the stadium. "All tired already? You'll never make it into the team at this rate! Well then, I guess we'll just finish off with one last exercise; a stadium run. For those of you who don't know what it is, first you'll be running up and down each set of stairs of the stadium one at a time, and then one full lap around the stadium. After that we'll call it a day."

I could hear some groans and sighs, some louder than others, but if Mr. DWB heard them, he didn't show it, probably because he didn't care. Although I wasn't looking forward to it either, it was relieving to know that we only had to run in the small stadium. Nevertheless, all of us lined up for our final exercise. One person went at a time. After about ten seconds, the next person would then go.

"Go." Mr. DWB said to me when it was my turn.

I took a deep breath and pushed my legs forward. Running up and down each step as fast as I could, I felt stiffness and aching in my thighs as I continued. I felt each drop of sweat roll down my face, I felt my mouth becoming dry from all the air I inhaled, but I didn't want to stop. If I did, I'd probably faint on the spot. After many more staircases and a lap around the annoyingly long stadium, my legs finally gave out, dropping me to the floor. I felt my head rest on the hard, dirty cement, but I didn't care if I got dirty. All I cared about was resting my tired and aching body.

I could feel a sharp pounding in both the sides of my head and heart, and it took a while for it to settle. By the time I had gained enough strength to sit up, I could see several other students, most likely upperclassmen who were still on their feet, chatting away like conditioning was just some casual activity. Amongst them, I could recognize Cristiano and Toby, and some others whom I had forgotten the names to.

Hopefully they wouldn't call me out on it if they recognized me.

After a few minutes, I finally mustered the strength to get back up on my feet, albeit with support from the fence. When the last student finished, Mr. DWB clapped his hands. "Good job everyone, that's a wrap. Conditioning will start at the same time tomorrow with some more exercises, so go home, have a proper meal, get lots of sleep, and be ready for tomorrow if you want to increase your chances of joining the team, or at least get in a good exercise."

Just as I was about to head back into the locker room to change, I felt a tug on my shorts. Looking down, I saw Alpha and Joe barely holding on.

"Could you...help us up please?" They asked.

I then took both of their hands and pulled up as hard as I could. Both of them stumbled a bit and held onto my shoulders for support before finally walking out on their own.

"Alright...see ya'll later…" Alpha said as he stumbled away towards Beta, who looked to be fresh out of volleyball practice. Joe and I waved to them as they left.

"So…" I started, "You want a ride home?"

To my surprise, Joe rejected my offer. "No, it's okay. You already took me home several times already. Don't really want to be an inconvenience. I'll manage somehow walking home."

I narrowed my eyes a bit. What the heck was he even talking about? Did he really expect to walk home with his legs in their current state? Even I was tired! But then again, why was I even offering?

As soon as dad's car came into view, I opened the door and mustered enough strength to lift my heavy leg to kick Joe into the car.

"Wha-? Hey!" he cried, but didn't fight back.

"Just get in."

Dad smiled as he saw the both of us get in.

" **Hi con.** So, how was your day?" he asked.

"Tiring," Was all the both of us could say with what energy we had left.

"Really? **Hai con làm gì?** " (What did you two do?)

"Run." We both curtly replied.

"I see. I heard that conditioning will be for quite a few days. Are you guys planning to go to all of those days?"

"Yup." we replied.

"Coach **nói là nếu mình muốn được vô** soccer team **thì mình nên đi hết** **ngày** conditioning." I said. (Coach said that if we wanted to make the team then we should attend all the days of conditioning.)

"Well, he didn't really say that," Joe corrected, "He more like said that conditioning was a good way to increase your chances of making the team since it prepared you for tryouts and future games."

"Well yeah, but based on how bad conditioning destroyed us today, it looks like we'll have to attend all the days and be as prepared as possible." I added.

Dad laughed when I said the word "destroyed". "Well, good luck to you guys. Hope you both make it. Are you guys aiming for any position?" he asked,

" **Con thường chơi** center attacking midfielder, so I'm hoping for that." Joe said. (I usually play…)

"I don't really care. I'll just play whatever coach wants me to." I said.

We then spent the rest of the ride in silence due to our exhaustion, the only source of sound being the radio. After reaching his house, we said our goodbyes to Joe after dad dropped him off.

" **Mệt không**?" he asked. (Tired?)

"Yeah..."

"Well, you can't sleep until you're done with your homework and the dishes."

Ugh...right. I totally forgot about that. Well, this is what I signed up for. Might as well deal with it.

Although I was tired, for some reason I felt...excited. It felt like for once I had a goal, of course besides getting straight A's. My daily exercises runs had started to feel lackluster, and now it finally felt that I was pushing myself. I couldn't wait for tryouts to begin.

The following days of conditioning were around the same, although with each new day, there was a new exercise added at the end. After a stadium run would be a series of 200 meter dashes, after that would be a some drills with the ball, and after that would be some more runs and shooting practice.

* * *

(Tryouts)

"Cleats, check. Shin guards, check. Running shoes, check. Lots of water, check. Alright." I sighed in relief at the fact that I had all I needed. Looking around, it was nice to see that the number of attending students had remained consistent.

"Seems like nobody here is a quitter. I like that."

It took me a moment to realize Alpha was talking about the attendees. "Huh? O-Oh, uh...yeah."

"Hah, you nervous already? The first day hasn't even started yet!" he laughed.

"Yeah, Ronnie. If you mess up one day, you can just make it up the other day." Joe chimed in.

"Alright everyone! Gather around!" At Mr. DWB's call, we all hurried and arranged ourselves in a circle. "Well then, welcome to the first day of tryouts. Let's start with introductions, shall we? Well, I'm Mr. Dances With Balrog, but here you can just call me "coach" or Mr. D. I teach P.E and coach both boys soccer teams along with several of my assistants Mr. Tylus and Mr. Dances with the Bulls. It's nice to see that there are more students here than we've ever received in the previous years, it makes me feel like we'll have a complete team since we are currently undermanned. Though with that said, just because we're undermanned doesn't mean there won't be cuts! If I or any of the other coaches see any slacking around, we will not hesitate to cut you from both the Varsity and Junior Varsity teams. Understood?"

I don't know what it was about the speech, but once the word "cut" was said, I couldn't hear anything from anyone. Not even the wind.

Seeming to be satisfied with the silence, coach nodded. "Glad to see you guys understand. Alright then, let's get started."

Since it was the first day, we started off with something simple, passing. The first test required one tossing the ball to the other while the other would bounce the ball once on the knee before letting the ball drop to the foot to pass it back to the tosser. The pass had to be easy enough for the tosser to catch while only using his upper body. Making the tosser have to rely on his feet to maneuver himself while catching the ball would result in the loss of points.

Upon hearing that groups would be consisted of only two people, Alpha immediately latched onto Joe.

"Wow, leave me all alone why don't you." I said, feigning hurt.

"Sorry man, maybe next time." Joe apologized, clasping his hands together and bowing.

"Don't worry about it." Luckily, I was able to find myself a partner rather quickly. He looked to be a freshman like me, his hair was tied into a high ponytail, and was about as tall as I was, maybe a bit shorter.

When the whistle blew, we started. He tossed the ball to me and I bounced it once on my knee before passing it back to him. This continued for nine more times before we were told to switch tasks, and out of my ten trials, my partner only had to jump or bend down to catch my passes.

When it was time to switch, I tossed the ball to my partner, who effortlessly bounced and returned it to my hands. After the second trial, I kept my hands in place after tossing the ball to see if my partner could return it to the exact spot. Sure enough, the ball landed safely in my palms, and all I had to do was stand still like a statue. Looking around, I saw many others easily catching the passes like I was, which made a little conscious of my own passes. I hope bending down or jumping didn't count as steps.

As we completed the first exercise, we then moved on to the second passing exercise, which involved partners being further paced apart by about five yards while the passing routine stayed the same. This continued on for a few more times until finally Mr. DWB changed the rules and stated that this time the passer would leave the ball stationary on the ground and run up to the ball to kick it with more strength. Similar to how a free kick was performed, only this time, the goal was replaced with a partner and the receivers were allowed to move to catch the ball as long as they didn't cross into the pathway of other groups. Luckily, I found doing this easier than the short passes. After all those soccer games with dad, long passes and long-range shots became my usual move because I could never dribble past him, but I was at least fast enough to reach the ball before he did. I was proud of myself to see my partner catching them with ease

Before I knew it, the whistle blew, and Mr. DWB called for all the balls to be put away. As we all walked towards the locker, I realized that my partner and I had barely spoken a word to each other during the entirety of the day. Knowing that, I felt compelled to at least start a conversation. Seeing him a couple paces behind me, I decided to slow down to match his pace.

"Hey man, thanks for today," I started, "You're a really good passer."

" _Gamsahamnida_. Thank you. You as well. I could see from your skills that you have been playing for a very long while. Did you perhaps play in a club?" His accent showed as he spoke, and it was easy to tell he was not from around here, like me. Perhaps he was from farther away than I.

"Well, I did play in a club, but that was a long time ago. In elementary school. Since then I've only been playing with my dad. You have some pretty good skills yourself. Have you played in a club?" I asked.

" _Aniyo_. Not at all. I've only played at home with friends and family and for my school teams. I have no club experience." he replied.

"Well, you've at least played for your school team, so that's already pretty good. And ah, before I forget," I then held out my hand. "Aaron. Aaron Le."

He then took my hand with a tight grip and shook it. "Moon Eun-Wol."

"Moon?" I asked.

"My last name. From where I come from, you state your last name before your first. I know people here don't do that, but it's how I've been raised."

"Ah, I see. Then your first name is Eun…?"

"Wol. Eun-Wol is my entire first name."

"I see…"

After putting away the balls, I gathered my bags and prepared to walk home.

"Where are you headed?" I asked Eun-Wol.

"To the dorms. I am not from here, and my home is too far away so I live in the campus village." he replied, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Really? How is life there?" I asked, curious to know how it felt to live alone, away from family.

"It is pretty okay. I visit my family on weekends and am pretty self sufficient, so living here is pretty easy. However, I do miss my family back home sometimes."

Seeing dad in the parking lot, Joe and I said our goodbyes and headed home.

"Well, I have to go. It was nice meeting you. See you tomorrow!"

* * *

The next few days of tryouts went by in a flash. The second day was focused on dribbling and speed. The third day focused more on skill, and being able to move past defenders, and the fourth day focused on scoring goals. Although I think I did fine when it came to speed, skill and dribbling, I didn't do so well when it came to scoring. For some reason, all of my shots would somehow hit either the crossbar or the sides of the goal, but never past the goal line.

"Uuugggghhhh…"

"Didn't do so well yesterday, huh?" Feeling a pat on my shoulder, I looked to my left to see Alpha's hand.

"More like terribly...I feel like missing the goal even when I was so close was an accomplishment in itself. How the heck did you manage to score all of them?" I asked him. Unlike me, Alpha was able to score with every ball in every position that was given to him, even at the wings* of the field.

"Oh you know, just the usual. Practice."

Of course he'd say that. Then again, it's not like I expected anything mind blowing. Today was the final day of tryouts, and this time, we'd be playing a full game. Eleven versus eleven, eighty minutes, and a final chance to prove myself.

"Alright everyone, today we will split you all into four teams. Once the teams are assembled, determine your team captains and positions!" Coach said, placing a ball at the center of the field.

Surprisingly, Alpha, Joe, Eun-Wol and I were all placed in the same team. For our positions, it was up to us. Alpha chose to be a forward since he was most comfortable in the front. Joe and Eun-Wol chose to be midfielders, Joe being an attacking midfielder, Eun-Wol being a defensive midfielder. I, on the other hand, didn't know what to choose.

"Well, I'm right footed so…"

"Oh! Then you can be a right winger, or a right midfielder!" Joe remembered. "That's what you usually played back at our old club!"

He was right, but I was still a little skeptical because since then, a lot of things had changed. To be a winger you needed to have speed, stamina and good dribbling skills and I didn't know how I measured up against the other players. Nevertheless, it was the only option, so I took it.

"Alrighty then! Let's get started!" Alpha shouted, holding out his hand. The rest of us piled on our hands on top of his.

"Maplers on three...THREE!"

"MAPLERS!"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down. This was the final chance for me to prove myself after the horrible display yesterday. When the whistle blew, both teams gathered and chose which goal net they would attack in the first half. After the coin flip, the team that lost, which was ours, got to do the opening kick. Once the whistle was blown, it was go time. Making sure to stay behind the opposing defenders, I also kept myself to the sides of the field. As a winger, it was my job to offer some offensive variety along with some defense support as well. Seeing the ball come my way I immediately bounced it off my chest and trapped it with my leg, and dashed towards the goal. Being wary of my space, opposing players, and seeing Alpha catching up, I performed a cross in his direction hoping he'd be able to kick it in. However, seeing its trajectory, I noticed it was a little too high. Darn it.

Luckily, Alpha jumped high enough to head it into the goal.

"Whooo!" He and the others celebrated, dashing towards me and embracing me. The celebration was short-lived, however, as the opposing team then took control of the ball and started dashing towards their goal. Seeing them pass the halfway mark of the field, I immediately gave chase, going as fast as I could. As I got closer, the opposing players slowed down, and I marked one of the players who had the ball. Looking up, I could see it was Cristiano. However, his attention wasn't focused on me, but the ball. Nimbly moving the ball between his legs, it became difficult for me to track his movements. Taking advantage of my confusion, he performed a nutmeg* enabling him to get past and pass the ball for an opposing forward to kick it in. Fortunately, our goalkeeper was able to stop the ball.

After the goalkeeper kicked the ball forward, I once again dashed along the wings of the field to the net. Seeing Eun-Wol on the ball, raised my hand up to get his attention. Once he saw that I was open, he sent the ball flying my direction. Once again trapping the ball with my foot, I dashed toward the goal. Nearly entering the box, I started to dribble, trying to grab the goalkeeper's attention until-

"SCORE IT AARON!"

Instinctively, I kicked the ball forward, only for it to hit the sidebar and bounce out slow enough for the goalkeeper to snatch it.

I sighed in frustration, as I positioned myself in front of the goalie.

"Sorry about that." I said to the others as they caught up.

"Don't worry about it. Next time." Joe said.

Thanks to my earlier slip up, I became determined to fix it. There was no way this game was ending without me scoring. That and assuming I'd last long enough of course.

After several minutes, the opposing team finally scored thanks to Cristiano's header from a corner kick. Unfortunately, we remained scoreless for the majority of the game due to several of the defenders making me and Alpha, which led to the goalie easily anticipating and catching the shots coming his way. After a while, my energy started to run low, and it became difficult to sprint without feeling like my heart was about to burst through my chest. However, once Eun-Wol performed a tackle on one of the players and took possession of the ball, I decided to sprint towards the goal like all the others, chasing the ball as it flew forward and over our heads. Because the ball was flying was closer to the middle, Joe reached it easily and slowed down as the centre-backs closed in on him. Hoping to provide some support as he tried to dribble past them, I cut through to the middle hoping he would spot me.

Seeing him briefly turn his head back, I looked down and saw him perform a back heel pass towards me.

This was it. With what little time we had left the only option I had was to either pass or kick it in. To pass, I'd have to find someone open, which was going to be difficult and time consuming due to the fact that our opponents were fully on defense. The only option now was to kick it in. With my head finally clear, I brought my right leg back and swung it forward, hitting the ball with the side of my foot. I saw the ball bounce on the ground several times before moving in between the goalie's legs and past the goal line.

And then the whistle blew, signaling the end of the match.

"YEEEAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

I then found myself tackled by the team.

* * *

"You ready?" they asked.

"Yeah, just hurry up and tell me I didn't make it already." I said.

"Oh come on man, you scored the winning goal! That's gotta count for at least something." Joe said.

"Maybe, but I'm pretty sure it won't cover up me missing all those shots the day before."

We were all huddled in front of the gym, eager to see who had made the team. I figured based on my performances, I'd only made Junior Varsity at best. Not bothering with the Varsity list, I scanned the JV list, failing to find my name.

"So I didn't make it, huh…" I sighed. Well, it's not like it wasn't expected but it was still disappointing.

"WHOO! VARISTY!" Joe yelled, running away and pumping his fists.

"YOOO ME TOO!" Alpha yelled, running after him. Seeing them so happy, it made me a little jealous.

"Ah, there I am. Varsity. What about you, Aaron?" Eun-Wol asked.

"Well, I didn't make the junior varsity team, I can tell you that." I said. "As for Varsity, well let's see…" Starting from the top of the list, I made my way down.

…

I didn't really have to make it far, since my name was close to the top.

"Huh…there it is."

"Congratulations. You made it. We all made it." I felt a pat on my shoulder as Eun-Wol left.

Wait…

"VARSITY?!"

* * *

 **Whew! This was actually pretty darn hard to write. I couldn't decide whether I should make the tryouts a few chapters long or one. Anyways, I hope its too your guys' liking. If there's anything in this chapter that could've been done better, please don't hesitate to let me know. My first year in college is over so I'll have more time to write. I'm hoping to pump out some more chapters/stories in the near future.**

* * *

 **Name: Beta Zero**

 **Gender: Female**

 **Birthdate: January 1**

 **Age: 14-15**

 **Height: 5 feet 9 inches**

 **Interests: music, volleyball, dancing, cuisine, books.**

 **Hobbies: reading, creating new hip hop choreography, volleyball, singing.**

 **Strongest Subject: None. (All around)**

 **Favorite food: Burgers**

 **Interesting info: Ten minutes younger than her brother, Alpha. Like her brother, she has exceptional grades and many admirers of all ages. Contrary to her brother, Beta is more quiet and composed, typically analyzing situations before she acts. She is mostly the reason her brother stays out of trouble. Like her brother, she loves to sing, but has a horrible singing voice, although neither siblings know it. If they do, they usually deny it. Although calm and composed, she has trouble being idle and always tries to keep herself active. When she has nothing to do, she either dances, practices volleyball spikes, or goes on free running sprees with Lapis and Lazuli.**


	7. Decompression

**Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

* * *

"Remember everyone, your progress reports should have already arrived earlier today so make sure to check your mailbox when you get home!"

Immediately, some of my classmates either sighed in defeat or gripped their heads in worry while others seemed unfazed. As for me, I didn't feel too worried. Based on the scores I had received from past assignments, I believed I was in pretty good shape. That was a relief since for so long I thought I was going to struggle here, but it hadn't been the case. Either way, hearing Mrs. Nguyen speak in English meant this was a pretty serious issue. Oh well, I'd find out my scores when I arrive home.

Packing my things, I exited the classroom and walked deeper within campus, planning to meet Joe halfway.

"Aaron!"

Before I knew it, Joe had caught up to me.

"Hey man," I greeted him with a fist bump. "So, is everybody going? Are we all on for today? Dad let me go, but I can't stay past around 8."

"No problem, and I think so. It's Friday and I'm pretty sure the rest of us are free since we don't have soccer practice until next week. Beta, Lapis and Lazuli don't have practice today so...yeah. Don't think there's anything going on today."

"Alrighty then. So where to?" I asked.

"How about Kerning Square? It isn't too far from home and it's pretty big. I don't think we've explored every place in there yet. Have you?" he replied.

"Nope. I haven't been there since the first time you invited me."

"Well then, all the more reason to go. By the way, I saw your text telling me you wanted to bring someone?"

"Actually yeah. He should be coming right now..." I scanned the campus hoping to find a boy with a ponytail. Soon enough, he came into view and I waved my hands in the air hoping to catch his attention. He eventually spotted my waving hands and rushed over.

"Oh, Wally!" Joe cried out, also gesturing for him to come over.

" _Anyoung!"_ Eun-Wol greeted, waving back.

"You guys know each other?" I asked.

"Yeah! He's in my Korean class! Actually, I've been wanting to introduce you guys, but I guess you're already acquainted with each other. How did you guys meet?"

"Soccer tryouts. Seriously, Eun-Wol knows how to pass."

Eun-Wol simply chuckled nervously and scratched his head.

"Well, welcome to the group Wally!"

" _Gamsahamnida._ " Eun-Wol bowed as he performed some complicated handshake with Joe.

Huh...maybe we should come up with our own handshake.

After about a minute, everybody else arrived and after making a hasty introduction of Eun-Wol to everyone, we set off for the subway station. Because it was Friday, the subway was a little more packed than usual. Other students fresh out of school along with people coming home from work crowded the subway, forcing us to stand as we entered.

"So then, what are the plans?" Alpha asked in a muffled voice. "Are we just gonna go get bubble tea?"

"Nah, right now I'm in a mood for smoothies. Maybe check out the new music shop later? Orangutanz and All Time High just released their new albums after all. I wanna check them out. And then after that maybe get some new sports gear since mine are already wearing out."

Huh, Joe brought up a good idea. New albums from two of my favorite bands? New sportswear? I'd like to get my hands on some of those. The cleats and shin guards I brought to tryouts were dad's and getting tighter, so it'd be nice to get some for myself. When the subway train arrived at Kerning City, we were finally able to free ourselves from the cramped train and stretched as we walked to the shopping center. Checking my wallet, I counted my bills.

"Twenty...thirty...forty...thousand. Forty-thousand mesos..." Probably not enough to buy everything I wanted…

"Tch! You can't be serious!"

Lazuli's voice then brought me back to reality. Looking up from my wallet, I realized that I didn't know where we were. The huge building that we once went to was gone, and this time it was replaced with a barbed wire fence, cranes, wrecking balls, and construction workers. It wasn't until I saw the sign in front that I knew what was going on.

 **COMING SOON: KERNING TOWER**

"All that time spent getting squished by all those smelly people...wasted!" she then humphed and stomped back to the subway station.

"She seems upset…" Eun-Wol said awkwardly.

"Don't mind her." Lapis reassured. "She's always irritable. Although she _does_ seem to be more angry than usual today. Guess she really didn't like being squished by all those people. Though I will admit I didn't like it either."

"Same goes for all of us." I chimed in. "So what now?"

"Hmm...you know what? How about we all go to my house?" Joe suggested.

"Are you sure? What about your parents?" I asked, wanting to know if his parents would let him, seeing as how when we were younger, nobody was allowed to enter the home when Joe was alone, which occurred pretty often.

"Yeah! Let's go, it's been months since we came to his house anyway!" Alpha and Lapis cheered, as they rushed back to the subway station.

"Don't worry about them," Joe reassured, "Now that we're all grown up, mom and dad became more relaxed. I can invite someone over almost every day now."

"Really? Wow, they've really changed. Last time I remember, they were strict on visiting rules, even more than my dad."

"Haha, weren't they? But they've become busier now and can't watch over me often anymore. Now I spend most of my days at home alone and since then they've become more lax with visitor rules."

Joe's parents being less strict really surprised me. From what I remember, they were nice people with really high paying jobs, but never let more than two people enter his house. They were also neat freaks as they wanted any visitor to put things back where they originally were. Thinking about it now, maybe I should appreciate dad more. He's nowhere as strict as Joe's parents were.

We then entered the subway and once again endured having our bodies twisted and crushed before making our way out and into the neighborhood. I could easily trace my daily run route as we walked through the neighborhood, but after a while we ventured into unknown territory and as we got deeper, I noticed the houses around seemed to look like they covered more ground and were more...royal. It suddenly made me a little excited as I had never walked into houses like these before. Thinking about it now, Joe and his family were always the type of people who wanted to live comfortably, so I guess it was understandable his parents would let him live in a place like this. Taking one last turn, we had finally arrived.

"Here we are." Joe said.

In front of us was a house covered by a neatly done front yard. The grass and the bushes were trimmed. In the middle of the garden was a stone tile walkway that led to a gate. On the roof were a set of solar panels and behind the gate were a variety of beautiful trees that I didn't know the name to and a fountain that wasn't running. Despite only being one story like my house, it seemed to have a larger square footage as the house was wider and and possibly longer as well. As we neared the gate, Joe used one hand to cover the passcode he entered on the gate as it opened. I wished I could stay a little longer outside to admire the view, but then I remembered there was also the interior to admire.

"Whoa…" I marveled at the sights.

"Remember to take off your shoes before you enter everybody." Joe said as he unlocked the door to his house.

Clean carpeted floor, a variety of antiques and soft couches, clear glass windows and a thin plasma T.V in three of the five bedrooms along with one in the living room which looked like it was attached to the wall. The kitchen practically sparkled as if it had been freshly constructed. In the center of the backyard was a large swimming pool in the center of neatly trimmed grassland along with a large pool house. There was also a pavilion not too far from the pool containing pillow-like and seemingly reclinable chairs.

"You live in a place like this?" I asked, amazed at the beauty and comfort.

"Nice isn't it? It does take some work though. Having to keep the pool clean along with cutting and trimming the plants does take some effort."

Everyone quickly made themselves comfortable as Alpha and Lapis plopped down on the sofas and turned on the T.V while Beta raided the cabinets and grabbed a handful of snacks. Eun-Wol and I weren't really familiar with the house, so we decided to look around and explore.

The bathrooms looked neatly polished as they practically shined in the light. The bedrooms contained queen or king sized beds along with drawers and cabinets and antiques, but they seemed largely empty save for two. One of the two bedrooms contained an unmade bed with laptop on a desk along with some action figures. Guitars and posters hung along the dark blue painted walls. Knowing Joe liked playing his guitar, it was easy to tell it was his room. The other of the two rooms was less animated as it was painted in a more light blue color. In front of the bed was a mirror and below it a desk full of makeup materials and documents. There was also a closet containing nothing but business attire and on one of the walls was a huge golden bordered portrait of Joe's family. Taking a look at Joe in the picture, I could tell it had been taken fairly recently as he looked more or less the same as he did now.

"It is very big house...almost as big as mine." Eun-Wol's voice brought me back to the present. It took me a moment to finish processing what he had said, but when I did, I looked at him with the most incredulous look I could muster.

"You live in a house bigger than this?" I asked.

" _Ye._ " he replied. "I live with my grandfather and many of his students so the house is very big. We have many rooms along with a dojo and training grounds at home. In my free time I usually train in the training grounds."

I think he also said something about being a black belt in taekwondo as well but by then I had already stopped listening.

"Alright, alright. I get it, you're all richer than me no need to rub it in."

We both laughed a little before heading back to the living room. Alpha, Lapis and Beta all were watching some T.V show called "Gold Beach" while Lazuli read a book and was laughing maliciously for some reason.

"Aw man, I love Swanson!" Lapis said while laughing.

In the backyard, I saw Joe on the phone as he paced around his pool. I couldn't make out what he was saying as the door was closed, but I could see the bright smile on his face as he talked and several times he moved the phone outward from his face possibly to either take a picture or record his backyard.

"Oh look, Joey's talking to his girlfriend!" I turned and saw Alpha staring out the window with me.

Girlfriend? Joe had a girlfriend?

Beta followed suit and smirked. "You think she's coming over?"

"Probably not," Lapis chimed in. "With us here, he'd never bring her over."

"Good point. We'd probably follow them to their room and listen to every word they said to each other." Alpha laughed.

The T.V was completely forgotten as the show ran on without anyone watching it.

"Wait, how can you guys tell?" Eun-Wol asked.

"Simple." Beta replied. "The only time Joe ever makes those faces is when he's talking to his 'special someone'. We also caught and recorded him doing that with her once. He hasn't ever lived it down."

"Is it really his girlfriend though?" I asked, remembering the conversation I had with them before the school year started. "Joe keeps denying it."

"Well of course he would!" Alpha said. "If he didn't, we'd be all over them."

"Hah! Good point. We'd probably sneak to their room and find all the blackmail material we could." Lapis laughed again. "Isn't that right, Lazuli?"

Man...these guys were evil...wait hold on, did Lapis just say they shared a room?!

"Hmph. I couldn't care less. Now stop interrupting my reading." Lazuli replied, refusing to look up from her book.

"Yeah, just ignore her. She'd probably reenact one of the gore scenes from the novels she read if we kept talking to her."

This caught Lazuli's attention as she threw the book and Lapis.

"I won't!" she yelled indignantly.

"Whoa, you read gore novels?" I asked, grabbing the book and scanned through the pages. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, it didn't take long for me to locate the words "blood" and "gushed" in the pages.

"Yes I do. Problem?!" The stare she gave me looked like she was trying to burn my eyes with her heat vision.

"No, no. Just wondering."

She didn't have to say much else as she held out her hand. I then handed her the book to which she swiped it away from my hand and resumed reading. That is before she slammed her novel down again.

"Alpha! Did you finish reading the novel I gave you?"

Alpha's face immediately froze. "Uhh...nooo?"

"What's taking you so long?!"

"I just haven't had any time! I've been busy!"

"That's no excuse! I expect you to be finished with it by next week!"

"Alright alright…"

"You read gore novels too?" I couldn't help but ask, but I made sure to do so in a lower voice. Didn't want to unintentionally offend Lazuli.

"No." Alpha whispered back. "More like she makes me read them and recite the whole plot back to her. I don't know what it is about her, but she's crazy for gore novels and horror movies. It kinda scares me…the weird thing is she only does this to me! She doesn't even do this to Lapis!"

Before Alpha could say anything more, Joe entered the room. "Well, it's dinner time. Who wants to go to the pool house to play some video games and eat some burgers?"

Everyone then cheered.

Since I was the only other person who knew how to cook, I offered to help Joe with grilling the patties. First was getting all the raw beef and shaping it into small patty discs. After the discs were formed I used my thumb to make a dimple in the center of the discs for them to cook evenly. Next was turning on the grill and putting it on high heat for it to preheat.

"What kind of cheese should we use? I've got cheddar and mozzarella." Joe asked.

"Doesn't really matter to me. But let's keep it the same for everyone." I replied.

"Cheddar it is then."

Before adding the patties to the grill, I made sure to season them evenly with some salt and pepper. As they grilled, the smell radiated through the air. I took a deep breath to take in its scent. It had been a while since I made something like this. Having this other than some other food from the motherland was nice. It also helped that grilling hamburgers was an easier task.

"Thanks for the help, Ronnie. I'm pretty new to this myself, so I was a bit worried I wouldn't get things right." Joe said as he prepared the cheese.

"No worries. Actually, I was surprised you actually grabbed the meat and turned on the grill yourself. Were you actually planning on cooking by yourself? When did you learn how to cook?" I asked.

"Not too long ago, actually. Just a bit before you moved in. I haven't really done it since though. My...friend usually does it for me."

There it was again. The "friend" he told me about. I figured he was still shy to talk about her, but it still wouldn't hurt to tease him a little.

"Was that her you were talking to earlier on the phone?"

…

"Maybe."

That was a yes. Sometimes I didn't understand why he just didn't answer so. He wasn't as subtle as he thought.

After two minutes Joe and I flipped the patties over and placed the cheese over the grilled side.

"Should we use the spatula to press on them?" he asked.

"No need. Doing that would just take out all the juices of the meat." I replied.

As they cooked, Joe also started grabbing out the buns, onions, tomatoes, pickles and lettuce. Placing the buns over the grill, he let them sit until they were properly toasted and then spread butter over them, which allowed me to concentrate on the patties.

"Alright everybody, grub's on!"

"Whoo! Let's eat!"

We then spent the rest of the day in the pool house playing Joe's video games while we ate.

* * *

"Alright, see you guys at practice next week!" I said, leaving.

"Alright, see you at practice, Aaron!"

Joe then volunteered to walk me out the door.

"Thanks for seeing me off, Emmie." I said.

"Aw come on. I thought you had forgotten that nickname!"

"Yeah, no way. We've called each other by nicknames for too long for this to be forgotten."

"Emmie" was my nickname to Joe which was based on his last name, which was "Emes". He hated being called that. I couldn't blame him, it sounded like a girl's name after all, and when I called him that, so did everyone in elementary school. After a while I felt bad, I stopped calling him that, but that didn't mean I had forgotten.

"We should do this again sometime. Maybe I'll introduce you to her when we do."

"Sure thing."

Feeling my full stomach, I decided to jog home instead of walk. I didn't want to gain back all the weight I had lost, and with a heavy bag slung over my shoulder, I was sure I could burn some calories.

The lights were still on when I had reached home and through the window I could see dad in a T-shirt and shorts reading a newspaper on the kitchen table. Grabbing out the door key from my bag, I fumbled around with the lock forgetting which way to turn before I could finally open the door.

" **Anh hai về!** " No sooner had I stepped one foot in the house, Rose tackled me in a tight embrace. (Big brother's home!)

" **Hi em.** " I greeted simply as I rubbed her head.

Dad also came to the door, smiling as he did so. " **Hi con. Đi chơi với bạn có vui không?** " he asked. (Hello child. Did you have fun with your friends today?)

" **Dạ vui. Bữa nay con được vào nhá Joe.** It's actually pretty big." (I did. I went to Joe's house today.)

"Well that's not surprising. His parents make lots of money after all. Speaking of which, **lâu quá mình không gạp ba mẹ của Joe**." (...it's been a while since we've talked to his parents.)

" **Dạ. Nhưng bay giờ** they're out of town working. It'll probably be a while before they come back."

"Mm. Anyway, **con ăn chưa**?" (...did you eat yet?)

" **Dạ rồi** , **nhưng ba và An Nhiên ăn chưa? Con sợ vì ba không biết nấu ăn** ,,," (I did, but did you and Rose eat yet? I'm worried because you guys can't cook…)

" **Trời ơi*** , it's not like we can't buy something. Ah, and before I forget…" Dad then went back to the living room and handed me a red and black envelope. " **Đây là thơ của con. Con mở đi.** " (You've got mail. Open it.)

Examining the envelope, I realized dad was right. Using my long nails to open the tightly sealed envelope, I pulled out a folded sheet of paper. As I unfolded it, I saw the names of my classes across letter grades. It was my progress report.

" **Giỏi quá.** " Dad said from behind, rubbing my head. "That's my boy." (Very good.)

 **My first progress report:**

 **Biology - A**

 **PE 1 - A**

 **World History - A**

 **English 1A - A-**

 **Algebra II - A**

 **Vietnamese 1- A-**

I sighed as I set my bag down in my room. Grabbing out all my homework, I immediately got started, intending to finish everything before the day ended. I didn't know how long I had been at it, but soon my hand started to cramp up. There were several moments where I wanted to put the pencil down and rest, but I couldn't stop. If I did, I'd probably stop doing it immediately and stretch it to tomorrow, but weekends with homework were no fun.

 _*BZZZZZ*_

Figuring I could spare a few seconds to check my phone, I dropped my pencil and double tapped the black screen. Once the screen lit up, I saw a notification that read " _2 unread messages."_ Weird...did I forget something at Joe's house? Tapping on the notification then brought me to the messages screen. Immediately I noticed that the message wasn't from Joe, but someone else. Looking at the contact, I saw it read _My Beautiful Idol._

…

Uh...

My Beautiful Idol? I had a contact like this? Much less, I typed something like this? Before I read the messages, I tapped on the name, which made it reveal information on the contact, but all I could see was a phone number I didn't recognize. Huh...but how was that possible? I was pretty sure I recognized all the phone numbers I added as contacts. How could I have just forgotten this one? What's more, it was shown that the contact was added fairly recently. Deciding not to think about it further, I went ahead and read the texts.

 _Sent 8:09 P.M: hey there, u uncultured maple boi._

 _Sent 8:10 P.M: what do u think ur doing, completely ignoring me after I went thru the trouble of adding myself as ur contact?_

 _*BZZZZZ*_

 _Sent 8:10 P.M: I also know you've read my texts! Now u have no excuse for not replying!_

"What...the? Who _is_ this?"

 **What should I do?**

 **1\. Ignore the texts. Probably spam mail. Even if it wasn't, why should he answer to some random stranger?**

 **2\. Answer the texts, but tell the stranger to leave him alone. Anyone with an attitude like that isn't worth talking to.**

 **3\. Answer the texts, and try to figure out the stranger's identity in the process. He/she seems to be someone I know.**

* * *

 ***** **Trời ơi is a term typically used to express surprise or exasperation. In this case it was the latter.**

* * *

 **Name: Lapis Kessho**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Birthdate: January 1**

 **Age: 14-15**

 **Height: 6'2"**

 **Interests: Acting, animation, photography, creating new choreography.**

 **Hobbies:** **Basketball, weightlifting, breakdancing, skateboarding.**

 **Strongest subject: P.E**

 **More interesting info: He was blessed with high physical strength and endurance ever since he was young, which allowed him to take up a variety of sports and physical activities. He is actually five minutes older than Alpha who is also five minutes older than his sister, Lazuli, as they were born ten minutes apart. Because of his cheerful personality, he is very easy to get along with as he makes friends almost everywhere he goes. Despite his cheerful and easygoing personality, he can also take things very seriously, such as losses in competitions and schoolwork. Although his strongest subject is P.E, he actually has exceptional grades in all other areas. It's just his P.E grades that are the highest.**

 **He and his twin sister are polar opposites in many areas. While he is cheerful and outgoing, his sister is more sullen and shut-in. He enjoys the day and she enjoys the night. He has many friends while she has few. Although there are times when they fight often, they complement each other in their daily lives in more ways than one.**

 **His favorite type of girl is an energetic girl.**


	8. Rivals

**Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

* * *

Well, seeing as how this person called me a "Maple Boy" it'd make sense that this was someone I had met recently, so at least this person wasn't some random stranger. Then again, how could I have forgotten who this was? I felt kind of rude for having forgotten this person already, and I even prided myself on having good memory!

I didn't want to make it look like I had forgotten this person, so I made sure to text back without addressing his or her name.

 _Me: Sorry, I've been busy studying and trying out for soccer practice. Didn't have any time to reply._

 _*BZZZZZ*_

 _Sent 8:11 P.M: Yeah right. Are u SRSLY telling me u didn't have enough time to press a few buttons just to talk? Rlly?_

Okay yeah, that did sound like a pretty lame excuse but it was the truth! Besides, lying didn't sit well with me anyway, so I texted back.

 _Me: Uh...yeah? I really am sorry though._

 _*BZZZZZ*_

 _Sent 8:12 P.M: Well whatever. Anyway, watchu doin?_

 _Me: Nothing much, just about to finish up my homework._

 _Sent 8:12 P.M: Hah, hw. Wat classes r u taking?_

I then exhaled suddenly realizing I was holding my conversation was going well, so that was good. Still, the other person on the line wasn't revealing anything about him/herself besides the way he/she texted, but nearly everyone I knew besides Joe texted this way, so I was still stuck.

 _Me: Just the usual. Well, besides a few advanced classes like English 1A, Algebra 2, and a Viet class. What about you?_

 _Sent 8:13 P.M: Hah, funny. U and I are taking similar classes._

Similar classes? Did that mean he or she was taking Viet as well? Weird...but I don't know anyone in my Viet class! Who _was_ this person?

 _Sent 8:14 P.M: Well anyway, catch ya l8tr. Signing autographs rn._

Autographs? Did I read that right? This person was signing autographs? Okay seriously now, who the heck am I talking to? Pretty sure there was absolutely NOBODY I knew who was that famous. Still, even though the person said "catch ya later", it didn't feel right for me to just leave him or her hanging like that. I needed something to say to that, but what?

Should I just reply with a "see you later"? Nah, that lacked familiarity and emotion.

What about a "Good luck"? That seemed like a good idea, right? Then again, do you need luck to sign autographs? What about luck to avoid being bombarded by fans? Wait, did he or she ever get bombarded before? Ugh, too many variables.

Would a "have fun" sound alright? It sounded appropriate, and although not everyone saw signing autographs was fun, that phrase was basically a wish for a person to have fun. Yeah, this sounds good. Let's go with this one.

 _Me: Alright, have fun._

"Whew!" I exhaled as I finally put my phone down and resumed doing my homework. Not hearing my phone buzz for the past few minutes, I concluded that he or she might have already turned in for the night. Sighing as I finally finished my homework. I plopped down on the bed with everything on, even my uniform and turned in for the night.

* * *

"Alright everyone, when I call your name, please come up and grab your tests." Ms. Kyrin said as she stood up and grabbed out a stack of papers and ran through the names. The test was on a novel called "The White Mage". It was a story about an optimistic mage who travelled the world helping people in any way he could, trying to find the "Ultimate Light". However, as time went on, he began to notice that no matter how many times he tried, he could never erase the darkness from the people's hearts and eventually realized that there was no "Ultimate Light", only "Ultimate Darkness". As a result, he came to the conclusion that people were not worth saving and instead of saving them, began to eradicate them. Thus, due to the darkness in his heart, his form began to change and eventually he became the Black Mage.

Although Alpha and Beta didn't like it very much, I found myself a pretty big fan of it. It also helped that it was fantasy, which was a genre I enjoyed reading.

"Aaron."

Hearing my name called, I left my seat to collect my test. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the number 96 written and circled in red pen. I was a little disappointed I didn't get a perfect score, but it was sure to boost my current grade percentage. So caught up in my high score, I didn't hear Alpha or Beta's name being called. Only when they tapped me on the shoulder did I bring my attention off my test.

"So...what did you get?" Alpha asked, hiding his smile behind his test.

Wordlessly, I held my test in front of them, proudly showing my 96. To my surprise, they only hummed and nodded as they looked at each other. Their smiles even got wider. Curiosity getting the better of me, I couldn't help but ask.

"Well, what did you guys get?"

In less than a second they shoved their tests in front of my face, their quick movements eliciting a loud sound. Circled on the top of both of their papers was the number 104.

"What?! Even the two bonus questions?!"

Their smiles no longer hidden by their tests, I could practically smell the smugness coming from them.

"Ugh, I'll get you guys back next time."

"Oh really? How about we make a bet?" Alpha asked. "Loser gives 50 mesos?"

A bet involving money? Normally I wouldn't indulge myself in things like that since it was usually dad's money that filled my wallet, but seeing as how it was only 50 mesos, I figured he wouldn't mind. With the stakes higher, maybe I'd study harder.

"You are so on." I replied, shaking his hand.

"Remember, only the winner gets 50 mesos, so if two of us beat you and get the same score, you gotta give 100 mesos." Beta added.

"You guys are _so_ on."

Save for a few easy quizzes, I was glad there wasn't anything much happening at school. Less worries allowed me to focus more on sports and clubs. After school, I hurried up and ran to the gym locker room to change into better clothes suited for soccer. Hurrying to the large field and seeing Eun-Wol repeatedly bounce a ball with his knee, I rushed over to get into his line of vision and raised my hand up, indicating that I was ready to receive a pass.

Noticing me and smiling, he lightly kicked the ball over to me. All I had to do was stick out my foot a short distance before it bounced on the side of my foot. Kicking it up, I bounced it on my foot and heel a few times before I passed back it back to him. Stopping the ball with his foot, he kept it under his foot and held his index finger up.

"One game? First to five?" he asked.

"You're on."

Moving to the center of the field, I let him kick off the ball and then we were off. Immediately, I stood in front of him, trying to take possession of the ball. He constantly moved the ball in between his feet and performed several fakes before finally nutmegging me.

"Oh, I see how it is!" I yelled as I chased after him. Although I wasn't as good of a dribbler as he was, when it came to speed, I knew I had him beat. That said, it barely took me a few seconds to get ahead of him and when I did, I immediately slid down and stuck my right foot out, effectively kicking the ball away from him as he tripped and fell.

"My bad!" I yelled as I chased after the ball and sprinted to my toward my "goal" and kicked it in. "Whoo!"

The process then repeated for the next few times since it was pretty straightforward with just two players on the field. Of course I did miss some tackles, but by the end, the score was 3-5. My victory.

"Yo, thanks for the invite!" Towards the entrance of the field stood Joe and Alpha.

"Sorry about that, you still had class so we had an hour to kill." I said.

"Your fault for having another class during this time." EunWol chimed in.

"C'mon, not our fault you guys don't need sleep!" Alpha said, receiving the ball that EunWol passed to him.

As soon as they arrived, so did coach and the other players. Once everyone was ready, we then started our Monday routine. First was stretching our muscles, then jogging two miles. After the two mile run, we found several cones and other training equipment set on the huge field, but we weren't to use them yet.

After our jog, we all gathered in the middle of the field and split ourselves into groups of seven to play a game of 8 vs 2 keep-away to strengthen our teamwork. Within an imaginary 20x20 feet box that was marked by cones, I volunteered to be part of the 2, so therefore my job was to intercept the ball being passed between the 8 players. It took a few minutes, but I eventually managed to intercept a ball and then switched with the player whose pass I intercepted.

"Whoo, nice!" Eun-Wol remarked.

This continued on for about twenty minutes and after we took a small break before moving on to shooting drills. For shooting drills, we were to high-step through several cones before receiving a pass from one of the assistants for us to pass back. After passing the ball back, we were to high-step several more cones until we received one more pass in order to shoot it into the goalie-guarded net. I'd like to think that I'm a decent shooter but with a goalie like David, it was easy to doubt, seeing as how I only made two out of my five attempts while Eun-Wol made three, Joe made four and Alpha made all five.

After the shooting drills, coach called us over personally to tell us our position. Lining up, we waited for coach to give his analysis on everyone's strengths and weaknesses before their position.

When it came my turn, coach scanned his notes as he addressed me. "Alright Aaron, let's see here… right footed, good at passing and intercepting balls along with being able to jump very high... tackling is okay but could be improved...the same can also be said for your scoring and dribbling… and _very_ high speed. Just work on your tackling and dribbling. Also try practicing with your left foot more as it will allow you to dribble better. Other than that, you are perfect for the right-back role."

Right-back, huh? Certainly not a position I was expecting to be assigned to since I was aiming to be a right-winger but hey, coach knew more about my play style than I did. Also, it was on the right, my zone of comfort since I was right-footed, so I couldn't really complain.

"Alright, thanks coach." I said, heading back to the group as they finished before I did. However, practice still wasn't finished as coach still had to make an announcement.

"Alright everyone, now as I'm sure you're all aware, our first match is right around the corner." he said, with his arms crossed. Most of the group then cheered in excitement, most likely ready to show off their skills as a team.

"We've certainly come a long way," coach continued. "Our soccer team was first formed just four years ago due to the fact that in the past, we lacked sufficient members. Cristiano, Luka, and Xabi I'm sure can all attest to that." They all then nodded in agreement. "Because we were new, we were given old equipment and started off playing in the Fourth Division, the lowest league in the entire district along with playing on the smaller field, the one used for Lacrosse and Track and Field. Despite winning the league and being promoted to the Third Division, our team still failed to receive the required amount of funding and as such we still struggled to provide for our players. That coupled with the fact that some of our players had already graduated, dwindling our numbers and making it even harder for us to stay as a team. However, we still pulled through, managing to win the league once again and being promoted to the Second Division. But even being promoted to the Second Division wasn't enough, as the same issue still repeated. But now, here we are. Newly promoted to the First Division and, from my observations, the strongest and most manned squad we've ever had. As of now, even our Junior Varsity squad is full."

This time, the cheers were even louder. I also couldn't help but cheer and clap along, feeling proud that I was a part of this team and to be one of the first members to play in the First Division.

Coach then held his hands high and lowered them, silently telling us to quiet down. "Thanks to that, our funds have greatly increased, allowing us to purchase new uniforms and training equipment and even land a sponsor! Therefore, to celebrate, I've decided to allow everyone on this Varsity squad to print their names on their uniforms and warmups and keep them. For free! Also, the squad numbers will be reset, therefore if you want a certain number, hurry up and get it first."

I was waiting for a moment like this to come. Instinctively, I raised my hand up and yelled. "Dibs on number 7!"

…

For a few seconds there was silence before coach scribbled something on his clipboard. "Well then, number 7 is now off the list."

I was then bombarded by yells, praises and noogies from several upperclassmen.

"Yooo, check it out! Little freshmeat here just stole Cristiano's number!"

"Man, that was MY number!"

"Dang man, this guy here is a savage!"

Although I could've chosen the squad number of the right-back, number 2, I also felt I couldn't let anyone else take number 7. I had my lucky number calculated and everything. No really, I even did the birth date thing online and the number 7 came out as my lucky number. It also helped that it was also my favorite number and the number of the right-winger, a position I favored so...yeah! Lucky me I guess.

After our numbers, we had to input our sizes. Thankfully, we could fill those out on sheets of paper, so that's what I did. I entered an adult large for the tops and a size 34 bottoms just in case I gained some weight over the year.

In a flash, all the other students lined up to sign up for their numbers. Seeing Alpha, Joe and Eun-Wol at the front, I guess they decided to follow my example and not waste any time.

"So, did you guys get the numbers and positions you wanted?" I asked them.

"Yup. Managed to get 9, my favorite number. Also assigned an attacking-midfielder, so I'm glad it's a position I'm familiar with." Joe said, pumping his fist.

"0 for me. My favorite number along with going with who I am as well." Alpha replied. "Anyway, I'm a striker, played that in middle school and I love scoring goals so I'm sure I'll do fine."

"Yup. 6 for me. Convenient too. Same number as my position, defensive midfielder. Hopefully I'll do fine. Never played competitively before"

After a few minutes, Cristiano clapped his hands together. "Alright everyone, gather round! I have an announcement!" Gathering around our team captain, we saw him conversing with coach and his assistants before heading back to us.

"Alright now, I have some good news, and some better news."

Some of the players hummed, as if already knowing what he was going to say.

"The good news is, our very first game in the First Division is next week." The whole team then clapped, excited for their very first game in the highest soccer league. I had to admit, I was too.

"Now for the better news, our first match is against...Seoul's Private High School for the Gifted!"

This time, the cheers were as loud as they ever could've been. At first I didn't know why. From what I heard, they had been champions for years. Weren't we just newly promoted to the First Division? Where was the tension? My questions were quickly answered by the shouts within the group.

"Alright! Finally, on the same playing field!"

"We're gonna show that we're the winners!"

I had to admit, their passion was contagious. Even the tension and nervousness I felt previously was gone. No sooner had Cristiano made the announcement were we sent to coach's classroom to watch tapes on their games.

Their uniforms were white, black, and purple, with white being their main color. Watching their games, it was easy to tell their teamwork was top-notch. Passes were quick, accurate and efficient and finished off with finesse. What's more was their ability to create space for their teammates to roam in. Their defenders even had quick reaction times, quick enough to intercept passes before they passed the halfway mark on the field. They were practically cruising through each and every game. However, one player stood out from all the rest.

"As you can see here, their number 8 seems to be the center of their plays. Once he has the ball, you can almost guarantee him breaking through the defense either by dribbling through or passing." coach said. Honestly, it wasn't too hard to see. His speed was amazing and his dribbling skills were enough to make defenders trip. Combine that with high passing accuracy...it was no wonder why they were currently at the top.

Upon closer inspection, I was able to see the name on the back of his uniform. It read "Kinesis".

Hah, maybe that's why they were winning games. He was using his powers of tele..."Kinesis" to send the ball wherever he wanted it to go.

…

Wow, that was so lame. Why did I even say that? Let's pretend that never happened. Good thing I didn't say that out loud.

"Although the entire squad is good, it goes without saying that he's their biggest asset. Therefore, our main focus will be on him. Be ready."

* * *

(A week later)

I watched as the starting eleven from both teams talked to the center of the field in their warmups, high-fiving the opponents as they walked by. However, most of my attention was on the large stadium. It wasn't hard to tell that it was a large stadium, maybe just as large if not larger than our stadium. Like our school, they also had two huge electronic displays across from one another. I could also see camera crews along the stadium, filming the scene. Not only that, but the stadium was completely filled, something I didn't expect to see at a soccer game. Cheers rang through the field, and many of them held posters of their favorite players. At the bottom of the field were the team's cheerleaders, rehearsing their routine. I think I saw someone familiar among them, with her silvery white twin-tailed hair, but I shook off the thought. Now wasn't the time to focus on such things.

Wait a minute…

"Their cheerleaders even attend soccer games?" I asked.

"Probably voluntary." Eun-Wol replied. "Most likely to show pride and spirit for their school. Take a look, we even have our own."

He was right. To my right were our team cheerleaders doing the same, I could even see Lazuli among the group. There was also a visitor section in the stadium for strudents from our school to sit, however, it was difficult to spot any red in the audience.

"Guess we don't have many fans…" I said.

"Well, we're a relatively new team. That and combined that with the fact that soccer is the least watched sport at our school...makes sense right?"

"Well what about here? Seoul's Private High School for the Gifted seems to have many soccer fans."

"Yeah well, depends on what, or rather 'who' they're fans of. I mean, take a look at the posters around. My bet is that they're mainly fans of the team's number 8."

Taking a better look at the posters I could see without glasses, I had to say, he was right. "Kinesis" was plastered all over their posters. Sure, there were some for different people like "Velderoth" and "Seamus", but that was only a small percentage of the hundreds of posters around.

After the the starters high-fived one another, they both headed to their respective locker rooms to change.

Our uniforms were pretty cool. Its main color was black with a bright red "V" shape on the chest area. At the bottom of the "V" was a snowflake logo encased in a circle, showing our sponsor, El Nath inc.

"Yo Joey! You didn't tell me your dad was sponsoring us!" Alpha laughed, examining the uniform like me.

"Oh come on, don't call me that! And I didn't even know either! He probably did that because he knew I'd join the team…"

On the upper left of the chest area was a red maple leaf in a black circular background with the words "Maplestory Academy" in red circling the leaf. On the upper right of the chest area was a "P" in cursive script, displaying our uniform provider, Pensalir. On the back of the shirt was our number printed in red, and above it was my last name, "Le", in all capitals. Our shorts were also black, with the only the school's emblem and squad number in red. For our socks, they were mainly black with two wide red stripes. For the goalkeepers, it was just plain blue. With some white stripes along the shoulders and socks.

I put everything on along with my dad's shin guards and cleats, feeling how tight they were. Maybe I'll ask dad for some money after I get home.

Soon it was time for the kickoff. Along with the rest of the starters, Joe and Alpha gathered on the field. I saw Cristiano and "Kinesis" gather to the center of the field along with the referee, who did a coin flip. Seeing the "Kinesis" point to the goal on one side, it was easy to see that he won. Since we were the losers of the coin toss, we were to start with the ball.

The boos started immediately as soon as the ball was in play. Immediately, defenders crowded the goal net, preventing any of our players from breaking through. The ball was then passed from Alpha to Cristiano, who drifted to the wings of the field, drawing many of the defenders to him. With some space created, Cristiano easily maneuvered past the defenders and managed a pass in Alpha's direction. Alpha then jumped and performed a header, only for it to be caught in the gloves of the goalkeeper.

"So close!" we exclaimed. The tides then turned when the goalkeeper threw the ball forward for "Kinesis" to catch. Surprisingly, only three or four players dashed forward. Like our opponents, many of our team crowded the goal net, but I guess the he predicted that as he made a long pass forward to one of the forwards. David attempted to catch the shot, but instead of finishing off the pass, the forward performed a back heel pass, allowing "Kinesis" to take advantage of David's distraction and kick the ball in from afar.

The crowd then roared. Barely a minute passed and they had already scored. It didn't take long for them to score a second goal either. And this was all before half-time.

Surprisingly, when halftime came along, none of the starters looked discouraged. If anything, they seemed even more determined to win upon re-entering the locker room. In contrast to a 70 minute Junior Varisty match, a Varsity match was a total of 80 minutes, containing two 40 minute halves, and that wasn't even counting half-time, extra time, or even overtime. To be sprinting back and forth for 40 minutes already and not even breathing hard...it really made me question whether or not I was as fast and tenacious as I thought I was.

"Alright everyone, rough start! But that was to be expected. Is everybody warmed up yet?" coach asked.

"Yeah!" They exclaimed, drinking from their bottles.

"Alright, now here's the deal. We're going to do this the other way. Instead of blocking Kinesis, we're going to block his targets. Sound good? Doing so will allow David an easier time to catch the balls coming his way, and our attention will be solely focused on one player. Also, one more thing…"

Coach then tapped Eun-Wol on the shoulder. "Eun-Wol, start warming up. You'll be replacing Ivan."

Wordlessly, Eun-Wol nodded and began to start jogging and stretching on the field.

While Eun-Wol warmed up, the cheerleaders took to the field. Because we were the away team, our team took the stage first. Unlike during the boy's basketball game, the current team consisted of both boys and girls, most likely since this was a soccer game and attendance was voluntary. At the front of the team stood Lazuli with both of her arms raised.

"DO YOUR THING LAZULI!" Alpha shouted from the bench.

" _I said BRRR!_

 _It's cold in here!_

 _There must be some Maplers in the atmosphere!"_

What came after was music and a series of flips and towers. I couldn't say much about the choreography since I barely knew anything about cheerleading, but I could see that everyone was nicely synchronized as they performed their tosses, flips and rolls.

I eventually had to look away as I brought my attention back to coach as he explained the new formation and strategies. My heart rate quickened. Was I going to be called next? But after Eun-Wol, coach made no more substitutions.

The whistle then blew, signalling the beginning of the second half. Because we kicked off first, this time it was their turn to start.

They started off rather slowly, seemingly in no rush to charge forward as they were already ahead. Luckily, Eun-Wol, who was fresh into the game, took advantage of their easy-going attitude and intercepted a pass, managing to charge forward and pass it to Joe, who in turn passed it to Cristiano for a successful header.

"OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!" we all yelled, seeing the ball go past the goal line.

I saw the rest of the players run over and embrace Cristiano as he slid down the grass and celebrated. I guess that was the wake up call for our opponents, as they wasted no time in getting the ball back into play. Thanks to coach's new strategy, everyone hurried and marked a player, with Cristiano himself marking Kinesis. With all of the players marked, he had no choice but to push forward himself. As he neared the goalie box, he attempted to charge forward and draw the defenders to himself. Luckily, our defenders saw through him and stayed on their targets, forcing him shoot only to have it caught by David.

"Wheeeeewwww...props to David for catching that." one of the bench player said. I think his name was Ivan.

With the Private High School for the Gifted on their guard, the game progressed more slowly. They started switching to a more defensive playstyle, hoping to kill time until the game ended. Smart strategy on their part, trying to agitate our players into scoring and making mistakes. As the 70th minute passed, it was easy to tell our team was getting impatient as they constantly made shots at the goal, only to miss or be blocked. They only needed to score one more goal to tie the game since winning at this point was pretty much impossible.

Just then, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Alright Aaron, you'll be up in a few minutes. Start warming up."

A little shocked that coach would be substituting so late, I could only nod my head as I stood up from the bench and started stretching and started jogging. For some reason, although the game was almost over, I felt my heart rate quicken. I pounded it softly, hoping to calm it down, although I think I only made it worse.

I heard the whistle blow as I stood at the ready during the 77th minute. The referee then held a display board that showed an electronic display of two numbers, 2 and 7. The 2 was in red signalling a sub-out and the 7 was in green, signalling a sub-in. Once Phillip, the starting right-back came over, I high-fived him before rushing out to the field.

"Show your speed, Aaron!" I heard coach yell, as I dashed out to my side of the field. The opponents payed me little to no mind, most likely thinking I wouldn't contribute much since it was so late into the game. That relaxed me a little, as it allowed me to do what I wanted without having to worry about them stopping me. Observing the field, I saw Eun-Wol in possession with the ball, slowly dribbling forward through the persisting "boos" that rang through the crowd. As sneakily as I could, I strided forward, hoping that he'd see and pass it to me. Once we made eye contact, he passed immediately. Due to his accuracy, I had no problem catching the ball with my foot. Taking coach's words into mind, I sprinted forward the moment I had the ball.

Daring not to look to the side to see whether or not they were hot on my trail, I looked to the front, seeing Alpha and Joe dashing along with me, albeit farther ahead. Once I was close enough to them, I performed a cross to Joe who immediately kicked it towards an opposing defender's leg, making the ball bounce toward Alpha and allowing him to take advantage of the goalkeeper's confusion and score the goal.

I don't think I've ever roared so loud in my life. Feelings of excitement and happiness washed over me as I dashed towards Alpha while he was performing backflips in celebration. By the time I arrived, he was already buried by all of us.

After the 80th minute passed, overtime began. Due to the fact that everyone was exhausted, nobody was really able to contribute much. As a result, the rest of the two 10-minute periods was used to pass the ball around to kill time. We could hear coach yelling at us, telling us to go for one more goal, but nobody had the energy left to finish off any of my passes. After a while the referee blew his whistle, signalling the end of the match. The game was over. The final score, 2-2.

We carried Alpha towards the locker room as we celebrated the tie. While doing so, a single thought ran through my mind

 _I managed to do something! I managed to contribute!_

And because of that, I was hooked on soccer and wanted more.

I wanted to play more.

I wanted to win more.

 _I needed to try harder._

* * *

 **So? How was it? Anything you like? Disliked? Anything I could've done better? Don't hesitate to let me know!**

 **I tried my best to have the character's skills and traits correspond to their positions in soccer.**

 **Like in my old story, MapleStory High School, I modeled Aaron after a Bishop. Bishop's are a class that excel in supporting party members more than dealing damage. As such, I felt being a right-back (or full-back) fit him best. Full-backs are more offensive defenders, and despite being able to push forward, defense is their main priority. Usually they push forward only when the team is on the offensive, and I felt that captured a Bishop's playstyle really well, seeing as how they'd start attacking right after they finish buffing everyone in the party. As a** **Bishop, whenever the party is low on health or is dead, skills like "Resurrection" and "Heal" enable them to continue fighting. Skills like "Advanced Blessing" increase their attack and defense.** **As a full-back, once the team is on the defense, their main priority is to prevent the opponent from scoring. Lots of defensive plays from full-backs involve them tackling players, kicking it away from the goal line, intercepting shots, or chasing down stray balls, similar to "keeping the team alive" and on the offense. When on the offense, they usually operate on the wings of the field and give some offensive variety, therefore boosting the team's "attack" in a way.**

 **Since Zero is a warrior class with high attack and little to no support abilities, I made him a Forward/Striker hybrid. I made Alpha a forward as well as a striker because of the one support skill he had, "Rhinne's Protection", so at least he had some party utility instead of just being an all-out attacker like a striker.**

 **Eun-Wol's position was a little more tricky to choose since he has high attack along with higher defense, and I couldn't really narrow those traits down to one position. Like Zero, he also has only one support skill, "Heroic Memories", so I also considered making him a forward, but then again they weren't really ones that had high "defense". Ultimately, I decided to make him an all-around midfielder due to having more defense than attack, but still being pretty strong. Although he is usually deployed as a defensive midfielder, he is capable of playing all midfield positions like a box-to-box midfielder (a kind of central midfielder that can both defend and attack on a high level) and a playmaker (a kind of attacking midfielder that specializes in leading the offense).**

 **Joe was actually an OC requested by a reader long ago. He was modeled after the Paladin class, a class known for its defense rather than its attack. As a result, I considered making Joe a center-back, but the reader requested Joe being an attacking midfielder. I put some thought into it and figured it made sense. Paladins also had support skills like Bishops, but they also more tanky, dealt more damage and had a more up close and personal playstyle. For that, attacking midfielder was a perfect choice.**

* * *

 **Also, to get an idea of what the MapleStory Academy soccer uniform looks like, just search up VfL Wolfsburg's 2015/2016 home kit. A player who I thought wore it really well was Julian Draxler, so you can also search him up as well. Just replace the white colors with black and the green colors with red. Also replace the Volkswagen icon with a snowflake.**

 **For the Private High School for the gifted, just search up Tottenham Hotspur's kit. Same year.**

* * *

 **Name: Lazuli Kessho**

 **Gender: Female**

 **Age: 14-15**

 **Height: None of your business**

 **Interests: reading, writing, art.**

 **Hobbies: reading gore novels, watching horror movies, writing her own dark stories.**

 **Strongest subject: English (Literature, Language and Composition)**

 **Favorite food: Burgers**

 **Favorite music: Orchestral**

 **The type of boy she like is: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS**

 **Other info: Youngest among the pair of twins, Lazuli is the polar opposite of her elder twin brother, Lapis, being more negative,** **pessimistic and quick to anger. Despite that, she gets along well with the twins and manages to deal with Joe with his constant attempts at trying to befriend her. Like everyone else in the group, she has exceptional grades, although her English grades stand out the most. A big fan of all kinds of literature, she loves to read but gets exceptionally excited reading gore novels and watching horror movies, especially ones containing lots of blood. When Alpha told her he enjoyed reading a bit of gore (actually a lie, he only said that so Lazuli wouldn't feel alone) Lazuli made it her personal goal to get Alpha to read every new gore novel she came across so they could have deep discussions about the "plot", although these usually involve Lazuli talking and Alpha only listening half the time. When she has free time, she usually spends time in the library reading or finding new books to find. She also enjoys shopping and drags Alpha along with her every chance she gets, but then gets annoyed when he invites other people to come along.**


	9. Conflict

**Yay! Managed to squeeze this through during my break! Hope you guys enjoy!**

 **Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

 **Anything you liked? Hated? Please don't hesitate to let me know!**

 **hongying: I used to, but stopped after 1 year in high school. I had to focus on my schooling. Don't worry about not noticing! It's not like I mentioned it to anyone.**

* * *

The spirit of celebration still remained with the team as we entered the locker room. Alpha was still being high-fived and having his hair ruffled by the other players even as we changed and left the locker room.

Immediately when we left the locker room, he was bombarded by students of the home team.

"You were so~ brilliant! What's your name? May I have an autograph?"

"Hey, so like...you're kinda cute. You mind giving me your number?"

Before leaving, coach had us bring all the gear and gather toward his truck to give us a speech before allowing us to part for the night.

"Alright everyone, fantastic game today. It's little disappointing since it wasn't a win, but it's still a strong start to the season and a big step forward for us! Everyone played well today, but I'd like for us to all give a hand of applause for our two MVP's today, Alpha and Cristiano!"

We all erupted in applause for the two teammates who had given us the hard-earned tie.

"But remember, just because we tied with them doesn't mean we won't lose to other teams. The next game will be next week, so let's stay on our toes and keep coming to practice so we can start winning games, understood?"

"Understood!" we all yelled.

"Alright! Now for everyone who asked for a ride here, help me carry the bottles!"

I had called dad earlier to pick me and Joe up after the game, so he should've been arriving soon by now.

"Hey!"

The voice sounded really close. Was someone calling me? Then again, it didn't sound like anyone I knew, so I ignored it.

"Maple boy!"

Immediately once I had heard "Maple boy" I turned towards the direction of the source. Ahead of me stood a cheerleader with her silver hair tied in twin tails. Seeing her white, purple and black uniform, it was easy to tell she belonged to the home team, but what business would she want with me? As far as I knew, I didn't know anybody from the school.

"Orchid?" Joe whispered as she ran over to us. Was that her name? Strange, did he know her? Was she calling for Joe instead of me?

To my surprise, she walked in my direction and stood front of me. Taking a better look at her features, I noticed her hoity-toity look and purple eyes. Why did she seem so familiar?

"Seriously, what's your deal?" she asked, putting her hand on her hips, her arrogant expression disappearing, being replaced with a more stern one.

"Huh? Deal?" I asked. What was she talking about? What did I even do?

"Don't act like you don't know! First I go through the trouble of giving you my number then you ignore me! Seriously, who does that?"

Number? Ignore? Wait, what was she even talking about? Aw man, what was I supposed to say? I didn't even know I was doing any of these! Avoiding her gaze and looking around, I saw several students whispering around us.

Great. Barely even two hours in this school and I already feel like I'll be the center of some gossip. Not really how I wanted myself to be portrayed here. Luckily, Joe was here to stop the awkward silence between us.

"You guys know each other?" he asked.

"Uh...well..." I started, but thankfully, rather than push the issue the girl decided to answer Joe's question.

"'Know' is a rather strong word. More like we only talked to each other twice." she huffed.

"Wait, twice? When?" I asked. Did we really talk to each other like she'd said? Based on her look, it didn't seem like she was lying, and she _did_ seem familiar...but I couldn't quite draw out a clear memory...

"Uh, hello? Once at Edelstein. Second time over text?" She said, as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

Edelstein? Hold on a minute...wait then…

"That was _you_?" I couldn't believe it. _She_ was the one who was texting me?! It was the same girl who almost made me drop my phone! And suddenly that attitude made sense. Man...I thought that was the last I had seen of her.

Her eyebrows furrowed even more and she scoffed like I was being the biggest jerk she had ever encountered.

"Are you serious? Joe, why don't you tell your friend either to stop pretending or stop being stupid."

Rather than doing any of those things (not like he'd do them anyway...I think), he walked up and stood in front of her instead, showing off their difference in height.

"Or, how about you stop being conceited and realize not everyone knows who you are? Aaron isn't from here, you know. Even if he did know you, you think name calling is gonna help?"

Seeing Joe come to my defense made me realize how lucky I was to have him as a friend. I'll have to make sure to treat him to a meal whenever the opportunity rises.

"So him not being from here automatically gives him a pass from being uninformed? You know, if you're gonna assimilate yourself, the least you could do is not be clueless. It's common sense."

She and Joe stared at each other intently for a while, it was as if it was no longer about me but them instead. Looking around, I could see some students staring at us, thankfully, they didn't stare for much longer as Orchid's...accomplices came.

"Madam Orchid!" A hooded boy wearing a uniform, whom I now recognized as Francis, came rushing over holding several bags over his shoulder.

Without a word, Orchid turned away and headed in the opposite direction, but not before giving me a sour look. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Francis, for she didn't even bother taking any of the bags off his shoulder as he frantically followed after her. Before they went out of sight, I saw Francis giving me a curt nod. Appreciating the gesture, I nodded back before he ran off with her.

Turning to Joe, it was obvious his once jovial mood had soured since the encounter.

"You guys know each other?" I asked.

"Well…'know' is is a strong word." he said, using finger quotations, just like how Orchid did earlier. "It's more like we've met a few times. My dad and her dad are somehow good friends I think. We've never really gotten along though. During the times we had met she used to be pretty quiet, but after she hit stardom, she became the jerk she is today."

I nodded in understanding. I then felt Joe's hand on my shoulder.

"Sorry you had to see that, man. I'll treat you to a meal if I get the chance."

At that, I had to immediately respond. If there was anyone in debt, it was me.

"Nononononono. _I'll_ pay. _You_ were my hero here. _I'm_ the one who owes you one." I said, making sure to emphasize who it was that owed who.

"Alright, next time we go to Kerning Tower, burgers and fries are on you. Make sure to add a large soda to that as well." he jovially exclaimed.

Ugh, my poor wallet.

"Anyway, I'm surprised Orchid recognized you. Normally she doesn't even glance at any of her fans during concerts How the heck did you two meet?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It was during our first key club event." I shrugged. "You know, the one where we went to Edelstein? I met her there, though I wouldn't really say it was an ideal meeting. We sort of got off to a rough start. Anyway, who is she? What am I missing out on?"

"Nothing much really. She's just a pop star." he sighed, seeming annoyed as he said it.

"So...she's really famous or something?" I asked.

"Well...yeah. Many of her songs reach #1 on the charts. People flock her like she's a goddess or something. She also likes rubbing her success on people like she knows she's better than them. People are aware of her attitude, yet somehow she still has devoted followers. Gets kinda annoying really."

Yeesh. I'll bet. Didn't really know what her problem was. Thankfully we didn't have to dwell on the matter much longer, as dad soon pulled up and took us home.

"So, how was your first game?" he asked us, as we situated ourselves in the back seats.

"Pretty disappointing." I admitted. "We didn't win."

"But we didn't lose though!" Joe added, the events of the game rushing back to him. "We were playing against the top team and at least tied! Even better since we're a rather new team, right?"

Dad laughed at Joe's more optimistic perception of the result.

"Well that's good! That means you guys will have a good season, right?"

"I hope so…" I mumbled.

"Chin up, Ronnie. We got this."

Not much was said between us the way home. Pretty much all there was to talk about was already said before we had gotten in the car.

 _*ringalingading! ringalingading!*_

Joe immediately fumbled through his pockets, searching for his phone. "Whoops, that's mine!"

His face then lit up as he checked the screen and cleared his throat before picking it up.

"Hey~!"

…

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I asked my friend's dad for a ride home and didn't want to make him wait. I'm sorry~!"

…

Leaning forward, I noticed a smile creeping up on dad's face. Neither him nor I needed to point out the absurdity behind Joe's high-pitched and fluffy voice, making it sound like he was talking to his imaginary wife. Or in this case, probably his not-girlfriend.

"Aww, you didn't have to~!"

...

"Alright, well I'll see you when I get home. Bye~!"

 _*Click*_

…

"Don't." he said, pointing his finger at us.

Unfortunately for him, dad couldn't resist.

" **Trời ơi. Trẻ quá mà có bạn gái rồi!** " he bursted out while laughing. (Oh my, so young yet you already have a girlfriend!)

"She is NOT my girlfriend!" Joe exclaimed. Even though it was dark on our way home, Joe's bright blush was easily noticeable.

"Seriously, I don't even know why you're even denying it. Who the heck talks like that to someone who's not a date?" I asked.

"I talk like that to everyone on the phone!"

…

"That was a terrible lie, wasn't it?"

Dad and I nodded our heads in sync.

"Ugh, can we stop talking about this already? It's awkward!"

I don't think I remember doing anything else other than laughing with dad for the rest of the ride home.

* * *

I yawned as I got off dad's car. Not willing to ring the doorbell and wait for Rose, I fished a key out of my bag and used it to unlock the door. To my surprise, Rose didn't come running to us as we walked through the door. In fact, not a sound was made as we walked in. Scanning the hallway that contained our bedrooms, I noticed her closed bedroom door. Checking to see if she was okay, I turned the knob slowly and took a quick peek.

Several sheets of paper along with her violin were scattered over her small small desk. Taking careful steps as to not make noise, I walked over to her desk and neatly arranged the sheets of paper in a stack, noticing they contained drawings of her favorite animals and characters, and brushed away the eraser fragments. Beside the desk laid Rose, who was covered in a pink blanket and sleeping soundly. I smiled and brushed her hair away before leaving the room, not willing to wake her up.

Seeing her safe, I let out a sigh of relief. The last house we lived in had been broken into. To say I was worried for her being left alone would've been an understatement, but then again, it was dad who decided to keep her home so I trusted his judgement.

Heading to the kitchen to grab a quick drink, I noticed a paper bag left on the kitchen table. Inspecting it, I saw a burger and hotdog inside.

" **Ăn đi.** **Ba mua cho con.** " (Eat it. I bought it for you.)

Ah, just what I needed after a game. Even Though I didn't really play for long.

"Thanks **Ba**."

News of our tie spread throughout the school like a wildfire. Once I had reached campus, I found myself crowded by several students, seemingly from other sports teams asking me how we managed to tie with the Private High School for the Gifted.

"Dude, we've never beaten them before! How the heck did you guys manage to tie?!"

"You guys were relatively a new team too! You gotta tell us!"

Thankfully, Cristiano was a big help, as he came over to me and brought all the attention to himself and dragged all of them away, giving me a wink as he became even more bombarded with questions than me.

Classes passed by me in a flash. Most of the time I usually spent learning was spent on answering questions. Even Lapis couldn't resist asking me how we had won as the basketball team had a match against them soon. Was a tie really all that special? While it wasn't a loss it certainly wasn't a win either. Before I knew it, when lunch came, Cristiano hurriedly called us all together, as we had been requested for an interview by the newspaper club. Alpha, Joe and Eun-Wol seemed to be out of the loop just like I was, as even they looked overwhelmed like me. Even Eun-Wol's hair tie hung loosely from his head.

After a brief introduction, the interviewer asked coach several questions regarding who were were.

"So, it's been known now that so far, you all are the _only_ team this season that hasn't lost to the Private High School of the Gifted yet. How do you feel, knowing this?" she asked.

"It certainly makes us proud." Coach answered. "Our team was started four years ago in the lowest division and we've managed to climb our way up the ladder while lacking resources. The fact that we're here in the First Division, and the fact that we've managed to tie with our rivals, shows how far we've come and the fact that our future is looking bright."

All of us cheered at that statement, unwilling to hide the pride we felt. I cheered as well, having been reminded of what it took for our upperclassmen to bring us here.

"Well now, I'm sure you have much to say about the match yesterday, right? Captain Cristiano, what was running through your mind as you scored the first goal?"

Cristiano rubbed his head holding a sheepish expression on his face. "Well, what to say? After our opponents had scored two goals on us, all I was thinking was that I didn't want to lose. While everything was going on, I did whatever my mind would tell me to get the ball past that line. When the opportunity to perform a header came, I hurried and took it. It was only because of the team that I had managed to do it. It's also thanks to Alpha here that we were able to tie the game."

"Ah yes! Alpha Zero!" the interviewer then moved to Alpha, even more enthusiastically so than she did with coach or Cristiano. Her face was only a mere inches away from his own and as he leaned back, she leaned forward.

"Congratulations on your debut! You've certainly scored with style, especially in crunch time being behind by a goal. How did you feel, knowing you had scored the goal that saved your team from a loss?" she asked, this time in a softer voice, almost as if she was trying to be seductive. Her crush on him was so obvious it hurt. The way she had asked the question made it seem like he was the captain instead of Cristiano.

"Well, no words could describe how happy I felt. While it wasn't a win, it was relieving to know we showed them that were weren't going to stay under them forever. We played to win and the tie was the result of our hard work and dedication."

She then continued to interview Alpha, who replied mostly with what had already been said by either coach or Cristiano already. Even then, she continued to be enticed as if missing a single word would ruin the interview.

Once the interview was done, Alpha immediately rested his hands on his knees and took several deep breaths as if he had just finished a sprint.

"Man, she got way too close for comfort…" he sighed.

I could understand a little bit. Who knew all of that attention could leave one so exhausted? Right after the interview ended, we were bombarded once again. To escape, most of the team split up in separate groups and directions. Us four freshmen, who wanted to stick together, hurried away and somehow found ourselves in the hallways of one of the many school buildings and away from all the chaos. After catching our breath, we took in our surroundings, realizing that we were in a rather new building.

"Yo, check out all this art." Joe said, walking down the hallway. The hallway contained several rectangular framed pictures, each containing a different piece of art. The art was certainly nice to look at, as it ranged from realistic portraits of people to some random designs with splashes of color, each one highlighting the other.

Following him, we could hear several varieties of different music playing behind closed doors, and at the end, there was an open door. Peeking in, we saw students in white uniforms and black belts yelling as they performed their punches and kicks.

"A martial arts club?" I asked nobody in particular.

"Tae-Kwon-Do club." Eun-Wol answered. "I'm in this club too. Meetings are usually after school, but some like to practice during lunch. You want to come in?"

"Bro, please! Lead the way!" Alpha exclaimed.

As we walked in, many of the club members smiled and nodded their heads at us before quickly resuming their training. I sighed as I sat down on the matted floor, relieved to be able to relax.

"Some tea?"

Before us stood what looked like the head or "master" of the club holding a tray full of teacups.

"Thank you," we said. I, out of habit, bowed to give additional respect. Dad had always been picky about greeting adults. That plus, the man looked pretty intimidating. While he did smile at us, he was also in uniform like the other students in the club, but this time the uniform was in different color. Contrary to the white uniform of the students, both his uniform and belt were black. That combined with how big his uniform was and how much his muscles showed through, it felt as if one flick from his finger to the head would give me a concussion. He seemed unintentionally terrifying.

" **Saboonim**." Eun-Wol greeted, standing up and bending about ninety degrees.

From there, the two exchanged words in Korean. Alpha and I, not understanding a word, turned to Joe, who we both knew was partially Korean.

"Are you getting any of this?" Alpha asked.

Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Ehh...maybe every third word or so. They're just talking about training and not slacking off. At least I think so...man, I need to brush up on my Korean."

Joe's head drooped a little, seemingly ashamed to be unable to understand his own language. I, slightly understanding how he felt, just gave a pat on his back.

"So! What are you guys doing here? Interested in joining the Tae-Kwon-Do club?" the "Master" asked.

"Ahh, no. Sorry, we were just seeking refuge from the crowds." Alpha replied.

He nodded in understanding. "Ah, you must be part of the soccer team. I heard the news this morning. 'The first time a sports team from our school hasn't lost to the Private Highschool of the Gifted!' or something like that, correct?"

"Right on the money." Joe replied.

"Hm. The club members were just the same a while ago. Unfortunately, we're in a similar situation. While we have won gold several times, our victories against our rivals have been very few and in between. That's why I told them if they mentioned it any more I would make them practice during lunch, hence what you see here. You have nothing to worry about. None of the members here will bother you. They've learned their lesson." he chuckled.

"Go on, make yourselves at home. In the meantime, you all are always welcome to come here. Who knows? Maybe you'll want to join us as well. No taekwondo knowledge required!"

We chuckled as well, thankful for the hospitality.

"Man, I'm thinking of joining. I could hang out here all day. The tea's awesome and I could learn some self-defense." Alpha said, sipping the tea.

Joe snorted. "And try to balance that with your freerunning, school work, and soccer? Yeah, keep dreaming. I already have my hands full with Key Club. Though I wouldn't mind dropping here once in awhile. What about you, Ronnie?"

Joe had a point. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be involved in more clubs, especially a martial arts one, but my grades still took priority. It wasn't worth joining another club if it made my grades fail, causing me to lose my scholarship here.

"Yeah...I think I'm fine as of now. Maybe when I get a little more used to things I'll think about it."

"Suit yourselves. I'll go get a recruiting form."

Once the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch, we returned back to our normal schedules. I guess thanks to the news broadcast, everyone's attention on us died down a bit.

When the final bell rang, I once again packed all my things and headed to the locker room for practice. While some students seemed to leave school as usual, I saw many other students wearing different entering our school, all of whom were carrying cameras and other similar equipment. Thinking nothing of it, I hurried and changed in the locker room and upon arriving at the stadium, I found it completely surrounded by people holding cameras, recording whatever was going on on the field.

I said my excuse me's as I made my way through the crowd, and onto the field, towards Eun-Wol juggling the ball.

"First to five?" he asked.

"You're on."

Immediately the flashes started.

* * *

"Thirty-two...thirty-three...thirty-four...thirty-five. Thirty-five people filming us. Currently." Cristiano said as we stretched.

"Not surprising." Coach said. "We just pulled off a tie. Now we're a target for them as well. Well, they're not going to get much."

According to the upperclassmen, students from other schools would often go to the Private Highschool of the Gifted and film their training sessions, trying to find ways of beating them. Unfortunately, none prevailed. Before us, that is. Now they were trying to find out how we had managed it.

"Yeah, not a really good decision to use all that memory right after we just had a game…"

Because we had just played a game yesterday, practice today was light. Today all we'd be doing was jogging, passing, and dribbling. Nothing too exhausting. Combined with the fact that many players were still sore from yesterday many of their passes, especially Eun-Wol's , were either off target or fell a little short. The camera crews really came at a bad time.

Despite our lackluster practice, the spectators still stayed, filming our every move and only left when practice had ended. Their reactions were as expected.

"Is this really the team that beat them?" many of them whispered. Whether they were trying to be secretive or not was beyond us.

While many of us stayed silent and ignored them, Alpha suddenly responded.

"Yup!" he said, holding a thumbs up to them.

We all snickered at his response and their shocked reaction, as if they weren't expecting anyone to hear. They then hurried away from the stadium.

After changing, we all walked out of the gym to be met by a black, sleek car, parked right in front of the gym. While the majority of our teammates ignored it, Alpha froze in his spot.

"Will…"

"Hm?" We looked at Alpha in wonder. His normally positive face was replaced with a stern look. From out of the car came a glasses-wearing tall man, flanked by other men in suits.

Alpha stepped forward until he was inches from the man.

"Hello Will, what brings you here?" he asked. While he addressed the man in a respectful tone, I felt something odd about him. Almost as if he was faking it. If the man had noticed, he didn't say anything.

"I just wanted to congratulate you for your tie against us. From being a shoddy team to a team who thinks they stand a chance against us...I guess your addition to the team really did wonders didn't it?" he said.

"You overestimate me. I didn't do it alone and you shouldn't just downplay my the contribution of the entire team." Alpha replied, once again with the same cold politeness.

The man named will chuckled and closed the book he was holding, making sure to bookmark where he left off. "Now now, no need to be so upset. I was only praising you! But you know...you could be so much more if you had joined us. It's never too late you know…"

"I think I like where I am now, thank you." Alpha replied once again, hastily, this time sounding a little more annoyed.

Will sighed in disappointment. "Don't you know you're stifling your growth by staying here? What's so special about this school? It's not like they've accomplished anything we haven't."

"No special reason. I just like it more here."

"Well, if you ever decide to change your mind, I'll always be here. Come on you two, let's go." He then made sure to wave to Alpha before he left in his car.

There was a quick pause before Alpha's shoulders slumped and he exhaled a long breath.

"So...are we allowed to ask what the heck was that?" Joe whispered to us, unsure of whether or not it was a sensitive subject.

"Not sure…" I whispered back. Thankfully, Eun-Wol took initiative and walked to his side.

"Everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah...yeah. Everything's great..."

It clearly wasn't. All the positivity he had radiated during our times of knowing him had disappeared in an instant as if the sun's light was extinguished. Although I wanted to know more, I thought maybe it was better if we left him alone. Didn't want to pry too much into his personal affairs.

"Well, how about we go and get some rest for now? I'll see you guys tomorrow." I said, hoping to diffuse the situation. Thankfully, everybody agreed as well.

Joe, Eun-Wol and I all patted Alpha in hopes of making him feel better before going our separate ways.

* * *

After taking a shower, I plopped down on my bed, and sighed, thankful for the light homework load I had today.

Feeling a little tired from the day's events, I decided to fall asleep in my current position, uncaring that only part of my body was on the bed.

That is until dad's voice brought me out of my attempted slumber.

" **Trường ơi! Vô đây biểu!** " (Aaron! Get over here!)

Groaning and dragging myself to the backyard, which was where I heard his voice, I noticed him pushing something very large and sleek towards the slide door. Because it was dark, I couldn't really make out what he was rolling in, that is until I came closer and noticed it was a piano.

Upon seeing me, he ushered me over.

" **Giúp ba một tay. Đẩy cáy đàn này vô.** " (Give your father a hand. Help me push the piano in.)

It took some effort, but after a few labored pushes, we managed to force the piano through the door and into the living room.

"Yay!" All of a sudden, Rose rushed into the room from the garage, carrying with her the chair to the piano. After setting it down she locked him in a tight embrace.

" **Cám ơn ba! Cám ơn anh hai!** " she said. (Thank you daddy! Thank you big brother!)

" **Oh, không có chi con. Ba chỉ đem vô vì ba biết con thích chơi dàn thôi.** " he said, pecking her on the head. (Oh you're very welcome. I brought it in because I knew you enjoyed playing it.)

Rose giggled before lifting up the covers to play immediately. It was a song I had heard many times during her practices, only this time it flowed more smoothly, thanks to the time she had spent practicing. She was hitting the keys faster, making fewer if not any mistakes at all, and the way she moved her head showed how much she enjoyed playing it. Thinking of it now, it was also a song that mom enjoyed playing I think it was called "Winter Sonata" or something.

I noticed dad smiling widely as he watched her play, almost as if she was hypnotizing him. The way he looked at her kind of resembled the way he looked at **Mẹ** (Mom) when she played.

" **Ba nhớ không? Một lần ba muốn dục đàn này sau khi mẹ qua đời.** " I asked. (Dad, do you remember? One time you wanted to throw away the piano after mom passed away.)

Dad smiled faintly, as if he was going back on memory lane to the times when it was just him, mom and I. " **Mm. Ba và con đâu có biết chơi đàn đâu. Đàn này cũng bự và hồi đó nhà mình rất nhỏ. Ba sợ không ai dùng.** " (Neither you nor I knew how to play it. It was also very big while our house was very small. I was afraid nobody was going to use it.)

The way he said it made it seem like it was because the piano was taking up space that he wanted to throw it away. But he and I knew that wasn't the whole truth. After mom had passed away, neither I nor dad could look at the piano without missing mom. The fact that no songs were being played didn't really help either. Dad would rub his hands over the piano and play a few songs mom had taught him, but after that he would leave and would focus on his work.

"I'm glad I didn't." he said, this time in english.

Turning back to Rose, we stared at her while she was still lost and engrossed in the music. It was something that dad and I took solace in.

Before she could walk, Rose always loved sitting by the piano and hitting the notes. It was where she had spent most of her time if she wasn't at her desk drawing. By the time she had reached kindergarten and after lots of begging, dad finally allowed her to take lessons, which had only ceased after we had moved. But even then, it didn't stop her from finding new ways to learn and practice.

Sometimes we felt bad for her. She had always listened to **ba** and was never one to complain or ask for much, even though our living conditions had improved. Even worse, she grew up not knowing **Mẹ**. Whether or not it mattered to her, we didn't know. But to us, the piano seemed to be their only connection. Before I knew it, I felt my eyes stinging.

" **Tội nghiệp An Nhiên…** " dad said, almost as if he was reading my mind. Maybe it was because he felt the same way. (Poor Rose)

After she had finished with the first song, Rose went on to playing piano covers of pop songs on arranged by ear. Sometimes we called her out on a missed note, which made her flush, but in the end she made it through. It was only when dad said it was time for bed that she finally stopped playing. Deciding also to turn in for the night, I once again plopped onto my bed, this time properly with all of my body on it.

Before closing my eyes though, I decided to have one last look at my phone, just to see if there were any messages I had missed out on. Sure enough, my phone showed several unread messages this time from…

"Aw man…"

Sighing and tapping on the notification, it brought me to a very familiar contact.

 _Jerk._

 _First you pretend not to know me through text and then you have the gall to do it in public?! Pretending to recognize me only when I had to bring our meeting up...making me look small._

 _I mean, I always knew you were a jerk but this is just asinine. Hope high school gives you hell._

 **Should I just ignore or reply to the texts?**

* * *

 **Name: Eun-Wol Moon. (Moon Eun-Wol)**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Birthdate: July 9th**

 **Age: 14-15**

 **Height: 5'9"**

 **Interests: soccer, taekwondo, music**

 **Hobbies: cooking, training, performing drum covers of songs**

 **Strongest Subject: Language**

 **Favorite food: Galbi**

 **Favorite bands: The Taxi, The Leafre**

 **Interesting info: Surprisingly has a lot of secret admirers despite being someone who doesn't talk often. Also, because he doesn't talk often, a lot about about him remains a mystery, though the main reason he doesn't talk is because he doesn't know how to initiate a conversation. He would certainly like to talk more, but he's also shy about showing off his accent, for he's afraid of being made fun of for it.**

 **He lives in a very fancy and traditional home with his grandfather and younger sister. There, he spends most of his time training with his grandfather and assisting him in the dojang. His grandfather runs a very popular martial arts school and there are currently hundreds of students learning in the dojang. More more seem to be coming.**

 **Neither he nor his sister know anything about their parents. Therefore it was mainly him who raised his sister, Lang. Because of that, Lang is very attached and doesn't like her brother being too far away. In fact, she was even against him enrolling to MapleStory Academy due to the large distance between the school and their home, even though it isn't very far. To close the distance, Lang begged their grandfather to let her enroll in Victoria elementary.**


	10. Worth it

**A/N: From now on, I'll be referring to the Private High School for the Gifted as PSG (not to be confused with the football/soccer club, Paris Saint-Germain). Kinesis also abbreviates it that was as well, and thank goodness for that. Typing the whole name got annoying.**

 **That said...**

 **Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

* * *

I sighed as I read the messages. Why couldn't she just let the issue go? Why was she making it sound as if it was my fault for not knowing her? How the heck was it even my fault?! Was she really that conceited?!

Ordinarily, I would've just ignored the texts, but for some reason I felt the need to lay it on her. The world didn't just revolve around her, and she needed to know that. Grabbing my phone, I started typing.

 _Me: Look, what else do you expect me to say other than sorry?_

 _Me: It was already bad enough when we got off to a rough start at Edelstein._

 _Me: Who the heck just casually tosses a phone that isn't theirs like its trash and tells the person to get a new one? NOT EVERYONE IS RICH LIKE YOU, YOU KNOW!_

 _Me: What's more, you get annoyed at me for not recognizing you? For embarrassing you? Is this really how you are towards everybody? Are you_ _ **THAT**_ _hungry for attention? You want me to grovel at your feet or something? This might be new to you, but I actually have something called self respect. And I have more than enough of it to know I have better things to do than suck up to you._

 _Me: Honestly, Francis is totally the saint here for dealing with all the trouble you force down on him._

After sending that last text, I tossed my phone down on my bed to stop myself from getting angrier than I already was. I might've come out harsher than I intended to be, especially with how I brought Francis into the conversation, but at this point it didn't really matter now. It was over, and what were the chances we'd ever talk to each other again?

Exhausted from the day's events, I lost myself to sleep.

The following days went by as as usual. When it came Friday, we prepared ourselves for our next game the following week, therefore we were practiced lightly. Today we'd be only playing a practice game and then wrapping things up. Because there were only eighteen of us on the team, we split into two teams of nine. Teams were assigned to us, and fortunately all of us freshmen were placed on the same team.

When the whistle blew, Alpha immediately dashed towards the goal, keeping himself behind the opposing defenders to prevent an offside. One of the upperclassmen saw his placement and immediately performed a long pass, allowing Alpha to jump and perform a header. Unfortunately, David, the starting goalkeeper saw the trajectory and immediately caught it.

"Next one!" he yelled, running the opposite direction for defense.

The ball was immediately thrown to the wings of the field and as one of the upperclassmen, Mesut, took control of the ball, he rushed to the corner. Deciding to mark him and test my defensive skills, I dashed towards him aiming to take the ball away. As expected, he rapidly moved his feet, some movements causing the ball to zigzag between them and some were used to trick me into thinking so. Unknowingly, I left my legs wide open, allowing him to nutmeg me and pass the ball towards Cristiano.

 _Damn it!_

His cross then allowed for an easy header for the opposing forward, giving them a goal.

"Sorry!" I shouted.

"No worries!" my team shouted, dashing back on the offense as our goalkeeper, Hugo, threw it forward. This time, it was Eun-Wol who caught the ball and kept it in possession as we advanced. Dashing to the wings like Mesut, I waited for him to locate me. Without making any eye contact he passed the ball in my direction, allowing me to catch it. This time I was on the offensive and instead of dribbling past the opposing defenders, I instead dashed to the middle, drawing them towards me, allowing me to pass to Alpha who was now free of defenders. Catching the ball with his legs he took several steps forward before kicking the ball towards the goal, only to have it blocked again. His frustration was evident as he punched the air and openly cursed.

This continued on for the rest of the game as we tried to bring the score up to a tie. However, it was crystal clear Alpha wasn't having the best of days as all of his shots either missed or had been blocked, each failed attempt at a goal only frustrating him even more. Unfortunately, our side had lost 0-3.

"Good game!" we all said to each other. Walking back, I made a mental note to myself to improve on my defense, especially my tackling and interceptions.

While many of the players, even those of us that lost, were still in high spirits after practice ended, Alpha still remained frustrated. It was obvious as he was angrily shoving clothes into his backpack. What's more, he hadn't said a word to us during the day. Although none of us had said anything to each other while we packed, there was a silent agreement among us that we were all worried about him. The bigger question was whether or not it was a good idea to approach him about it.

Taking initiative, I approached him and put a hand on his shoulder. Immediately, his entire body turned to face me. His eyes felt full of malice and anger, almost as if he was ready to fight, but fortunately his expression softened upon recognizing me.

"Everything alright?" I simply asked.

He breathed out what sounded like a held breath and nodded.

"Yeah...I'm fine." he replied, sounding a little tired. "Just some...personal issues. That's all."

"You want to talk about it?"

Alpha shook his head. "No thanks. Beta and I can resolve it on our own. Thanks anyway. I'll see you guys later. Oh and if you see Will or any of his men, stay away."

Without saying another word, he speedily walked out of the locker room. Eun-Wol and Joe turned to me as if looking to see if I had gotten anything out of him. I shrugged my shoulders, and they nodded in response. It wasn't like any of us were expecting him to share everything with us.

Deciding to head out as well, I put my uniform back on and shoved back all my sweaty clothes into my sports bag to bring them home to wash. Saying goodbye to the rest of the team, I made my way out. Feeling my phone vibrate from within my pocket, I fished it out to see the cause. Tapping the envelope icon, the contents popped up.

 _Dad: I'll be home a little late today._ _ **Con đón em cho ba được không**_ **?** (Could you pick up your sister for me?) _Maybe take her out and buy her a treat._

Typing a short "Okay", I hurriedly made my way to Rose's school. There wasn't any need for a rush, as today was a short day at school and practice ended about twenty minutes before her school ended, but I figured I'd get a good run in. With soccer practice, my daily runs had been reduced to weekend runs, and I wanted to get in as much running as I could. Thankfully, Victoria Elementary was only a few blocks away from the academy and I was able to arrive long before the school bell rang.

 _*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*_

Waiting in front of the school, I watched as many other kids rushed out of the school and into the limousines or relatives that waited for them. I waved to Rose as she came into view and she smiled in return as she said goodbye to her pink-haired friend before rushing to me.

" **Anh hai**!" she exclaimed as usual while embracing me. " **Uâ?** **Ba đâu**?" (Where's dad?)

"Hey Rose. **Ba đang bận. Bữa nay ba sẽ về trể**. **Vì bửa nay là thứ sáu, An Nhiên muốn đi đâu không**?" (Dad is busy today so he'll come home late. Since today is Friday, is there anywhere you like to go?)

"Can we go get **kem**?" she asked, jumping onto my back. (Ice-cream)

" **Kem**? But it's in the middle of fall! **Lạnh quá**! (It'll be too cold!)

"Pleeeeaaaassseeee?" she begged. Well, it wasn't like I was going to say no anyway. Rose hadn't been treated to anything for a while, so I might as well just have given her whatever she wanted. I was just worried she'd get sick from the combination of ice cream and cold weather.

We then rode the subway to Kerning Tower, the new and improved version of Kerning Square to buy the treats. Of course, I could've just gone to any other convenience store around town like 7 Eleven or Rite-Aid, but I wanted to give Rose everything to best of quality...provided I could afford it of course. Plus, this was also an opportunity for the both of us to explore the new mall.

"Wow…"

Her eyes shined the moment we entered the multi-floored mall. Rose scanned the surroundings hungrily, as if she just had her first taste of heaven. Excited, she ran to the center and twirled while opening her arms, trying to take everything in.

The tower was several stories higher than its previous version, and had a more bluish interior in contrast to its previous white and gold. Several chandeliers also hung from the ceiling and of course there were fountains in several areas. More stores opened as well. Not too far from the entrance was the new _Chaos Root Abyss_ store, and on the window was a mannequin sporting a new outfit. Checking the bottom, I noticed the price of the whole set being a couple million mesos. What's more, the label also read "30% off!".

" **An Nhiên, nắm tay của anh hai.** Don't get lost." (Rose, hold onto my hand.)

Without a word, Rose locked her hand with mine while continuing to marvel at the sights around her. Heading to the second floor which was where the ice-cream shop was, I ordered vanilla cones for the both of us. Rose giggled as she licked the cold treat. I couldn't help but smile with her as we both enjoyed ourselves. We took our time exploring the new and improved mall, visiting arcades, more clothing stores, and even music stores before deciding to head home. The both of us still had a curfew after all.

" **Vui không**?" I asked. (Was it fun?)

Rose nodded her head, shoving the rest of the cone into her mouth, prompting me to wipe away the remains from her lips. Taking the subway back home, the both of us leisurely walked home without worry. I still had some homework to do over the weekend, but I'd probably get it done today. It wasn't like it was hard anyway.

Lost in thought, I nearly missed the sound of laughing emerging from the plaza.

"Well lookee here, not so brave without your manager are you now?"

"Hm?" I muttered. The school plaza we walked past, which I thought had been surprisingly quiet, didn't feel so quiet anymore. Putting a finger over my lips to shush Rose from humming, I stood still to focus on the voices I heard.

"Aww, look at her, she can't even meet our eyes!"

"What a loser! Seems you're still the same even after you're famous, huh? I guess one good thing came outta that! Have someone ready for a fight and the bravado flies out the window! Come on, entertain us a little, will ya?"

The sound of girls laughing then followed. Curiosity getting the better of me, I brought myself in the direction of the source. Sure enough, the voices became louder and clearer the closer I approached. Eventually, I found myself near an alleyway. There, the voices reached near the highest volume they could reach. Seeing Rose tip-toe to my side, I once again put a finger over my lips to which she silently nodded in return.

"Is everything okay?" she whispered.

I gave a faint smile and nodded. Hiding behind one of the walls, I slowly moved my head towards the edge of the wall and peeked.

There, towards the middle and within the darkest parts, stood several girls aligned in a circle. In the middle stood another girl. Based on their black blazers and purple sweater-vests, it was easy to tell they were from PSG. Eager to find out more, I kept my eyes glued to the scene. The center girl, the girl seemingly being made fun of, seemed to be bowing her head, making it hard for me to see her, plus constantly bringing my head to and from the edge to avoid having any of the bullies spot me didn't make things any easier. Eventually, from all the bullying, laughing and shifting of positions, I was finally able find a somewhat clear view of recipient of all the abuse.

White hair, light face and amethyst-colored eyes...

 _It was her._

There she was, being surrounded by fellow students yet no longer showing the confidence she always radiated whenever she was seen in public. It was a little unnerving to see, yet also a little relieving. Unnerving because it reminded me of when I was in a similar situation a couple years ago. Relieving because I felt I was seeing her for who she really was.

" **Anh hai** , you have to help her!"

Totally forgetting Rose was right near me, I immediately brought my head back against the wall. Uncaring about my beating heart, I hurriedly grabbed Rose, who was peeking just like me and brought her out of their sight. I stayed as silent as possible, not even sparing a breath and prayed none of them heard her. The alleyway had suddenly gone quiet. Oh no, did they hear us? As I held my breath, I could feel my heartbeat pounding my head like a drum.

Luckily, hearing them carry on with their bullying seemingly uninterrupted led me to believe Rose wasn't heard. Relief flooding my mind and heart, I exhaled and tried to calm myself down.

"Rose!" I harshly whispered, "Don't show yourself! What if you get caught?!"

"But she needs help, **anh hai!** " she whispered back, her face full of determination, almost as if she was ready to jump in herself. Yeah, not happening on my watch.

I could agree with Orchid needing help though. Whether or not it was my problem was another issue. What, should I just stick my neck out for someone I didn't want to be associated with? Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like I was scared or anything. Believe me, getting beaten from all those sparring sessions with dad taught me a thing or two. I'd like to think I was a capable street fighter. I'd say the bigger issue would be her reaction. I didn't want her to think that I did it so she could be indebted to me or anything, because I was sure that's what was going to happen if I had stepped in. I'd much rather spare myself from the unnecessary drama.

What's more, I'm pretty sure those texts I'd sent a few days ago didn't really put me into good light in her eyes...yeah, not good.

I sighed in exasperation.

I could've just walked away but if I did, Rose would be disappointed. I wanted to be good a role model for her. I wanted her to respect and love me as a big brother. I wanted to set a good example for her. Even if I were to explain my _perfectly valid_ reasons for walking away she'd most likely end up disappointed, and a disappointed Rose was never a good thing. What's more, I'd feel guilty if I had just walked away knowing I could've done something about it. I _hated_ feeling guilty about _anything_. Imagine yourself constantly going back to the time you ran away and imagining how things could've been had you stayed and done something about it. Imagine yourself walking away from an opportunity to make a difference or just to help...I'd probably never be able to look at myself in the mirror again.

This really sucked...

"Fine…" I muttered. Putting a finger to my lips once again, I whispered to Rose. " **An Nhiên đứng đây đi. Đợi cho anh hai**." (Stay here, Rose. Wait for your brother.)

She nodded enthusiastically and gave me a thumbs up, wishing me luck. I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. She probably pictured me as some sort of hero. Living up to expectations was hard.

Steeling myself for whatever was to come next, I emerged from hiding and strode into the alleyway with confidence. I watched as the circle of girls ignored me while I approached. It was only when I was a few steps away when I spoke that they heard me.

"Hey! What's going on here?" I asked in a commanding tone. As I approached, I noticed their heights and sizes. Many of them had petite figures and barely reached up to my chest. Good, if things got physical, I knew I could take them. Hopefully. Based on their expressions, they seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Thankfully, they only glanced at me before scoffing and walking away.

"Come on girls, let's stop wasting our time and get outta here." the girl whom I assumed was the leader said. I inwardly sighed as they walked away, grateful to avoid a confrontation. No longer paying the bullies any mind, I brought my attention to Orchid, whom I noticed looked like a mess. Her hair and uniform were ruffled, her black blazer was off her shoulders and dirtied by the ground as were her books and bag. Looking around, Francis and the rest of her followers were nowhere to be found. Looks like it was up to me to tidy up.

Wordlessly, I gathered all her books and stacked them up before putting them back into her bag and handing it to her. Slowly and wordlessly, she grabbed it and tightly held her bag in her arms before draping her black blazer over her shoulders.

"Are you alright?" I asked, still bent down to meet her eyes. As expected, she avoided my eyes and didn't respond.

I sighed once again and stood up, knowing nothing I could say would make things better. It was fine if she didn't want my help.

"It's best that we leave now." I said, standing back up. "Who knows when they'll be back."

"Wait!" Immediately, I felt her hand latching onto mine. I could feel her shaking as she grasped it.

"Please...don't leave me alone…" she begged in a shaking voice. I stood there dumbfounded for a bit. Orchid? Shaking and latching onto my arm? What did those girls do to her? Shutting those thoughts out, I pulled her up and helped her get back on her feet.

"Do you need help getting home?" I asked.

She slowly nodded, this time slinging her bag over her shoulder and latching onto the entirety of my arm.

"Well then, give me a moment. Let me get my sister."

I felt her hold on my arm tighten as we walked towards the end of the dark alley. A wave of relief washed over us once we had escaped the darkness and felt the sun's warmth. I even felt Orchid's grip loosen a little. Turning to my left, which was where I remembered leaving Rose, I saw nobody. Wait…

"Rose?" I called out, feeling my heart rate quicken. No response.

"Rose?!" I called out louder, searching frantically.

" **Anh hai**! Over here!" Hearing her voice, scanned the area until I saw her sitting on a bench only a few meters away. Overcome with relief, I released a breath I didn't realize I was holding and walked over to her, keeping in mind Orchid who was still latching onto my arm. As I approached, I noticed someone else by her side. While I would've been suspicious of a stranger standing next to my little sister, especially when she wore PSG's uniform, I saw Rose smiling at her. It was only when we were close enough that was able to see bottles in their hands. Based on the contents, it was most likely bubble tea, and the stranger most likely bought it for the both of them.

I was still upset. What was she thinking, going along with a stranger?! What if she'd been caught?! Oh man, if that had happened…I shuddered at the thought. Before I could reprimand her, however, the stranger stood up and spoke.

"Sorry about that. I was watching you guys earlier and thought it'd be better if she didn't watch had things gotten ugly, so I decided to buy some drinks for the both of us to keep her occupied."

Finally getting a full look at her, I could see her loosely wearing PSG's black blazer, as it only covered up to her elbows while everything above was only the white dress-shirt and black tie. Besides her turquoise eye,(her left eye was obscured by her hair and I didn't want to assume that she didn't have heterochromia) and orange hair, everything else she wore was black. PSG's black skirt, her leggings and even her sneakers.

While I couldn't tell whether or not she was telling the truth, I couldn't be mad at her as she bought Rose a drink and kept her company. What's more, she even had the opportunity to take Rose away the moment I walked into that alleyway alone, yet decided not to. If anything I owed her.

"Thanks." I said, smiling in appreciation and relief. "How much were the drinks? I'll pay you back."

The girl shook her hand at me.

"No need. I'm just happy to see everything's okay." She replied, looking over at Orchid. "What do you think you're doing, leaving your sister alone like that? Even if these streets are often famous for being safe, that's no excuse to just leave your sister alone and unprotected."

She crossed her arms and gave me an exasperated look. Rose then ooed like I was in trouble, which I probably was. She had a point.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll be more careful next time. Thanks again, miss…?"

"Jett. Just call me Jett. Drop the miss will you? I'm pretty sure we're the same age here." She said, smiling before checking her watch. "Anyway, I should get going. Gotta go buy some groceries."

"Bye!" Rose said, waving as she sped off.

"See you later, Rose. Don't inconvenience your big brother!" she said before leaving us behind. Rose nodded, though I doubt she knew what "inconvenience" meant.

Finally, with us three left, I turned my attention back to Orchid.

"Well, you know where your home is. Mind leading us?"

Without a word, she pointed in the same direction of our home.

"Just...keep walking in that direction…I'll tell you when to turn." she shakily whispered.

"Alright then, let's go…" I said.

The rest of the walk home was awkward to say the least as we hardly spoke a word to each other. Us two, whom I'm pretty sure strongly disliked each other, walking home together while one's sister tags along. What's more, it was a little weird how comfortable Rose was with Orchid. The fact that she was skipping along while holding Orchid's hand felt so...out of place. Then again, it wasn't like she knew of our relationship anyway. What's more, Orchid didn't even seem to mind. I think I spotted her smiling at Rose a couple of times as we walked.

"Take a left turn here and keep walking straight…" she whispered.

I did as she told, and together we found ourselves in what seemed like the richer part of the neighborhood. I knew our neighborhood had rich houses as I often ran by them during my weekend runs, but no matter how much I saw them, there were still quite a sight. Perfectly trimmed lawns, clean and fancy stone statues, each and every house had it all. Rose had the same reaction as I did, but made her amazement more vocal.

"Wow...so pretty." she said. I had to agree.

We kept walking, marvelling at the sights until Orchid told us to stop. I ceased walking immediately and turned my eyes to the house sitting on the other side of the sidewalk.

Like the many houses we walked by, her house was just as impressive with its two stories, perfectly trimmed lawn, stone pathway and marble white color. I also noticed some lotus flowers outlining the lawn.

Without a word, she bowed and entered the password to the gate before heading into her house. I was little disappointed I didn't receive a verbal "thank you", but maybe I was being a little too greedy. I guess I should've appreciated being acknowledged at all.

"Bye!" Rose said cheerfully as she waved. Orchid gave a faint smile before waving back at her and closing the door to her house.

" **Rồi, bay giờ mình đi về nhé An Nhiên**?." (Let's go home now, alright Rose?)

I took a deep breath as I plopped down on the couch after finishing the last of my assignments.

"Rough day? Difficult homework?"

I looked over to see dad grab the remote and turn the T.V on. Immediately we were met with a scene from the T.V show Gold Beach opening up with Swanson sitting on his desk and talking about his favorite steak restaurant. Sighing again, I replayed the day's events through my mind. How did so much happen in one day?

I then felt dad's arms over my shoulder as he sat down next to me.

" **Dạ không**. **Con chỉ mệt thôi**." I replied. (Nope. I'm just tired.)

" **Trường học có khó không**? **Tại sao con nhìn giống như con lo vậy**?" he said. (Is school difficult for you? Why do you look so worried?)

" **Không phải như vậy đâu ba ơi**. School's actually pretty easy. I'm just worried about one of my friends." I said the rest of it in english, regrettably due to being too lazy to speak the rest of it in our mother tongue. It was more laborious to speak in my mother tongue than it was to speak english now. Luckily, dad wasn't so picky with it this time.

" **Có chuyện gì không**?" (Anything going on?)

"I don't know. It was his business."

Dad simply nodded while rubbing my head.

" **Nếu con cấn gì thì con chỉ cần nó ba nhe.** Okay?" (If you ever need anything then you just have to tell me.)

" **Con biết rồi ba ơi**." I reply. I'm sure he knew that I knew. He'd been saying that phrase even before I could understand him. Of course after the loss of mom, I often relied on him for physical and emotional support. Neither of us often showed it but to us it was more than obvious that we all loved each other.

Our conversation over, we switched our attention back to the T.V, enjoying the rest of the episode.

 _*ringalingading!*_

 _*ringalingading!*_

 _*ringalingading!*_

Checking my phone, I saw several new notifications pop up on the screen.

" **Ai vậy?** " dad asked. (Who is it?)

I checked my phone and saw the familiar phone number.

"Just an...acquaintance." I replied, not really sure what to make of her yet.

I tapped my screen to see the new messages.

 _Thank you._

 _If it weren't for you I don't know I would've made it home._

 _And for what it's worth, I'm sorry._

I reread the texts several times just to make sure I was reading them correctly. Orchid? Apologizing? Now I had seen everything.

Though I didn't know what she was apologizing for, I found myself smiling faintly as I processed her texts. Suddenly everything felt like it was worth it

 _You're welcome._

I texted back. Though, I knew I couldn't stop there. She apologized, and I knew well how hard that was to do. The least I could do was apologize back.

 _I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to explode like that._

 _Maybe next time we can start over._

Feeling like I finally had some closure, I brought my attention back to the T.V, happily enjoying the show with dad.

* * *

 **Oooohhh...drama.**

 **Just to note: 100 meso= 1USD, so that outfit at _Chaos Root Abyss_ cost about a couple thousand dollars...0_0**

 **Anyone remember playing MapleStory and seeing the 7-Eleven and Rite-Aid NPC's hanging around town? Anyone know what happened to them? I mean, they did pretty much nothing, but still...**


	11. Misses

**Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

* * *

"Are you alright?"

Beta suddenly shook her head as if shaking away her thoughts before facing me.

"Sorry, what? I was miles away for a second there." she replied, giving a faint smile.

"I asked if you were alright. Neither you nor Alpha hadn't said anything to anyone for the past few days."

I figured it'd be safer to ask Beta about this, as I'd already asked Alpha once. Asking him again would probably have him give me the same answer. I also didn't want to annoy him and cause him to explode. Beta had been acting the same way Alpha was, so maybe she'd give a little more insight.

Before she could reply, Lazuli then interjected, shooing me away. "Oh lay off it, will you? If they say they're fine, they're fine! Stop being so nosy!"

Beta then gave a light chuckle and shook her head. "It's fine, Lazuli. I don't mind. Besides, even you asked the same questions not too long ago. Anyway, we're fine. For me, I guess I'm just a little bummed out we lost to PSG."

That was a valid reason to be sad, I guess. But there was something there that I couldn't really quite get ahold of. It was some other expression. Was she afraid?

Realizing how much I was thinking about this, I shook my head. Maybe Lazuli was right and I was worrying over nothing.

Another missed shot.

Although, that was good for me and the rest of my practice team since we were against each other, but it was still worrying, knowing Alpha had not made a single shot since that day when he started missing.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said (or thought) that either. He missed Every. Single. Shot.

It went without saying that we were worried. Alpha was our striker, and as such it was expected of him to make the shots once the opportunity came. Maybe you could've argued that we had a good goalkeeper, or maybe you could've argued that it was just practice and he'd start making shots when the game started. Thing is, if it wasn't such a problem back then, why was it a problem now? Even before the past few days he had scored without any problem. Coach noticed his poor form as well and asked if he was okay and if he needed to sit out the next game, to which Alpha adamantly refused. I'm sure the entire team could see it too, but were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

For us four, it was obvious something was wrong, but we decided not to pry. At least, not further than we already did last time.

I exhaled a deep breath as I kicked the last ball that was tossed to me, making it to the net. There was just a little less than half an hour before the game started. With that, we undressed from our warmups and donned our uniforms. From their stadium outside, we could hear Vindictus High students viciously yelling at us, telling us we were going to lose. Blocking out the sound and fishing out my phone from my bag, I tapped on the new message notification and read the texts recently sent to me.

 _I heard you guys have a game against Vindictus High today. Good luck. :)_

I reread the messages several times until I felt my lips curve upward. I typed back a "thanks" before putting my phone back in my bag. It had only been a few days since then, but it felt like we both had just crossed a milestone. From being at each other's throats to now...while it was weird just thinking about it, it was calming as well. But whatever the case, I was glad we'd moved past our issues and were talking to each other like friends. Were we friends yet? I didn't know. We never made that decree.

"Alright everyone, time to line up!" Cristiano shouted from the entrance of the locker room. Taking in one more deep breath, I lined up behind Joe and walked out to the field along with the rest of the team. We high fived each member of the opposing team before heading to our stations to do some last-minute stretches before starting the game. Of course, as a substitute, I stayed put on the bench while the starters stretched and walked onto the field. I noticed Eun-Wol out on the field as well. Thanks to his performance in the last game, he had already earned himself a starting role.

Winning the coin toss, we were allowed to choose which side we wanted to score our goal. Therefore, Vindictus High were to start the kickoff. The whistle blew, and immediately the ball was in motion. I watched as our defenders swiftly chased after the ball. Our center-backs, Toby and Sergio, quickly tried to intervene and tackle but the forward quickly noticed as he quickly passed it to what looked like the team's winger. As expected of a winger, he stayed on the edge of the fields dribbling and slowly moving forward while drawing our defenders to him. Once they were close enough, he rapidly moved the ball between his legs, confusing our defenders and drawing them forward, allowing an easy passage for the ball between their legs.

I held my breath as the ball flew to the center, bouncing off of the forward's leg and towards the net. Luckily, David anticipated the move and quickly dived to catch the ball. The entire bench exhaled as David took control of the ball and Vindictus High moved away from the goal. As the ball moved forward towards their goal, Philipp, our right back, took control and moved forward. I observed him as he took slow steps. He was watching the field carefully, taking note of the players' current positions and making his moves accordingly.

"Let's see here…" I whispered to myself. "He has a lot of space...All of them are on our other players. He can do one of two things: One, either push forward towards the goal, or stay on the wings and either cross or score from there. Either way, it's going to draw defenders to him."

I watched as an opposing defender made his way to Phillip. Time was running out. If he were to dash to the wings, it'd be easy to guess that he was planning on passing rather than scoring as scoring from the wings was difficult to say the least. As he was a defender, even I doubted he'd try. Therefore, the majority of opposing players would stay put to protect their goal rather than run forward to try to intercept him. If he were to move forward towards the goal, the defenders would rush to surround him and try to get the ball as far away as possible from the goal box. This was a risky move, but it also had the most opportunity. Pushing towards the middle would draw nearly all defenders to him, but also free our teammates from their marks, allowing him multiple passing targets.

Unsurprisingly, Phillip did the latter and sure enough, defenders rushed to him eager to intercept the pass. However, immediately when Alpha was left open, Philipp sent the ball in his direction.

"Come on, come on…" I mumbled to myself. "Please make it in…"

The moment the ball touched his foot, Alpha sent it flying towards the goal. It was fast, and the goalie failed to anticipate its direction as he headed left while the ball headed right.

 _Yes!_

Everything seemed like it was normal again. Alpha was back to his usual, scoring self. That is until the ball hit the side-bar and bounced away from the goal. I, and the rest of the team sighed in disappointment. I guess we were back to square one.

Not giving us a chance to try again, Vindictus defenders immediately took the ball and counterattacked. The ball flew over the halfway line, but before their midfielder could catch it, Eun-Wol jumped and headed the ball back in the offensive direction. This time, it was Joe who took possession and dribbled forward. Once again, defenders crowded the goal while others rushed toward Joe. However, while Joe pushed forward, none bothered tackling him, only focusing on intercepting. A safe move on their part. Based on what I had seen in the past, Joe was an expert dribbler just as he was a passer and scorer. If they were to try and tackle him now, it was highly likely he'd be able to maneuver his way through without any problem. It looked like they realized that too as they kept their distance. With only two players marking him, he was the bigger threat here.

Hastily moving the ball between his feet, he easily made it past them and dashed forward before taking a chance at the goal. The ball flew forward, and for a moment it looked like it was about to be a goal as the goalkeeper was a ways away from the ball, however instead of going past the line, the ball hit the crossbar and deflected back outside to the goal box. The goalkeeper then hastily grabbed the ball and surrounded it with his body to prevent anyone from knocking it away from his grasp.

Having no choice but to go back on defense, the entire team rushed to the other side of the field. Somewhere along the way I noticed Alpha running next to Joe while gesturing to himself. He seemed upset. Almost as if it was because the ball wasn't passed to him. I saw Joe nod before Alpha ran off.

I found myself juggling my feet nervously. I might not have heard their conversation, but something told me there was something wrong. It didn't take a genius to know Alpha was getting angry.

Vindictus High were more cautious with the ball now, being wary of our defenders possibly heading the ball back in our favor. They approached slowly, and so did our defenders. Some space was left for their attacking midfielder so the defenders had some time to react and intercept any passes if they were made. For a few seconds no notable moves were made, but as they approached the goal box, Philipp quickly rushed in to intercept. Taking a chance, the midfielder dashed dashed forward and attempted to shoot, only to kick Philipp's leg as he stuck it out in front of the ball. Thanks to him, our defenders scooped the ball and regained possession. However, as they moved forward, Philipp stayed on the ground, gripping his leg as he rolled in pain.

The whistle blew and the game immediately paused.

"Aaron, get yourself ready. Philipp's injured." Coach said, before rushing out onto the field.

It took me a while to process what coach had just said. It was only thanks to the pats on the back from my fellow teammates on the bench that I stood up and started stretching. I watched the scene as I stretched, seeing several players gather to see if he was okay. Soon enough the stretcher came and coach himself lifted Philipp onto it. High-fiving Philipp as he was transported back into the locker, I ran out to the field to occupy the empty role.

I felt my heart racing as I stood, getting ready for the game to resume. Just the second game of the season and already I was out on the field with the rest of the starters. The last game might've been against last season's winner and our main rival, but I had been deployed late into the game, when many players were already exhausted. Here, hardly twenty minutes had passed since the game had started. There was so much time to make mistakes. I could only hope and pray that I wouldn't let the team down.

The whistle blew and and the game restarted. The referee dropped the ball where it had last been and both captains fought for the ball. Luckily, Cristiano won the ball and we were back on the offensive. Running forward with the team, I eased up my pace to fall behind the team a bit. If the ball were to travel back and we were forced on the defensive, I'd be ready to regain possession. I watched as our captain took control of things himself and easily maneuvered through the defense without so much as a pause. With nearly all of the opposing team running forward to him, he took a quick glance back before passing it to Alpha, whom the defense had nearly abandoned thanks to his miss. Stopping the ball with his foot, he took a couple steps back before kicking the ball forward. Once again, the ball seemed to be on target and the goalkeeper was nowhere near, but just as it seemed to go in, the ball somehow curved to hit the sidebar of the goalpost.

Another miss, huh?

I looked over at everybody else and saw their perplexed, if not worried faces. Coach seemed to be in the same boat as well and it looked as if he was planning on calling a substitute for Alpha. As things were now, maybe these were minor hiccups. Hopefully things would be back to normal as the game went on.

Thanks to the ball deflecting off the goalpost, possession went back to Vindictus. This time, they wasted no time in charging forward. Their sudden dash took me by surprise and it took me a couple seconds to register that we were now back on the defensive.

The ball flew over my head as a defender kicked it forward and landed near one of the forwards. I chased after him as he approached the ends of the field, but kept my distance. Last time I marked a player, I let his dribbling skills get the ball past me. I'd like to call myself an adequate defender, but against those with high dribbling skills like Joe, I was helpless. This time, with the distance between us, there was no reason to dribble past me unless he was charging forward. His only option was to either pass or score. He seemed to realize this as well as he passed to a midfielder approaching from the side. With him off the ball, my attention was now focused on the newly approached midfielder.

Unfortunately that was a mistake because as soon as the forward was out of my sight, the ball immediately went back to him. He was fast, his speed seemingly on par with our captain. While I hastily dashed to the goal box which was where he currently was heading, I was too late as he kicked the ball past our goalkeeper before I could catch up.

The crowd cheered as their home team scored, and their chants grew louder by the second. The forward who scored slid down the grass near the crowd and roared in victory while being tackled by his teammates.

I sighed in disappointment at myself. I held up my hand and bowed my head to my teammates in apology. They then patted me on the back.

"Relax, freshman! It's nice to win, but it's no fun if you're tensed up all the time."

Relieved by their overwhelming support, I took a deep breath and jogged forward.

"Right. Sorry about that." I replied.

They then chuckled as they ran with me. As I was a right back, I sped ahead a little to offer some offensive support. As our goalkeeper threw it forward, Eun-Wol was the first to catch it and together everyone made haste forward, eager to eliminate the advantage Vindictus had over us. With one quick glance, he sent the ball flying in my general direction.

The thing about long passes is that sometimes players have a tough time determining who and where the ball is flying towards. And when they do, it's already too late as the player is already speeding ahead. Such was no different for us as there were no defenders anywhere near me while I dashed along the wings of the field chasing after the ball. Before the ball could touch the ground, I performed a cross to Joe, who then passed it to our captain on the other side of the field. He then kicked the ball towards the goal the moment it got within his vicinity. The ball flew with so much speed that I doubt even opposing defenders would even bother trying to stop it with their head. Nevertheless, it hit home and we all rushed to our captain in celebration. He jumped and performed an opening motion before letting himself get tackled by all of us. He specifically gave a hug to Joe seemingly as a thank-you for the assist.

I joined in with the celebration as well, jumping at the top of the pile. After a few seconds we dispersed, realizing the game wasn't over yet.

From the corner of my eye I could see Alpha kicking the ball back towards the net in frustration before joining the rest of us. He was definitely angry about something, but what? Did he want to score that badly? I then shook my head. It was better to focus on winning the game right now.

The whistle eventually blew, signalling halftime. All of us breathed a sigh of relief that we finally received the rest we yearned for after running back and forth for a good amount of minutes. We all jogged to our side of the field and received our much needed refreshments from coach and the rest of the team. While we rested, coach went back to the locker room for a few minutes and then gave us an injury update on Philipp.

"Alright everyone, I have some good news and bad news. The good news is, while Philipp's injury is a bit serious it's nothing that'll permanently damage his body or compromise his playstyle. He'll will be out for a while, but certainly not the whole season."

We all sighed in relief knowing one of our seniors will be returning eventually.

"The bad news is, he'll be out indefinitely. So that means for a little while, we'll have one less defender. That means from now on and until Philipp comes back, you'll be our starting right-back, Aaron."

I nodded at the confirmation. A starting role! While it was certainly something to be excited about, it was disappointing to know that it was due to a fellow teammate being ruled out and not because of my own skill. Nevertheless, I was eager to prove myself.

"That said, let's get to our game plan for the second half…"

This time, rather than deploy a 4-4-2 diamond formation like he did the first half, coach opted to go for a more balanced formation, the 4-2-3-1. While it lacked defensive support on the midfield, it offered much more offensive variety. With more midfielders positioned on the wings the offense would be better suited for a variety of attacks and defenders like me would get less offensive responsibility and be able to focus more on defending.

After laying out the strategy, coach then pulled Alpha aside for a one-on-one talk. Most likely addressing his recent misses. Eyeing them, I could see Alpha nodding his head and taking several deep breaths to calm himself down. Their conversation continued for around a minute before cach finally let him go.

Once the whistle blew again, we went back onto the field and started the second half. As we advanced forward, we noticed more Vindictus players occupying defensive positions. Based on the looks of it, they too had changed formation and had gone for a more defensive position. Things had suddenly gotten more difficult. While it didn't look like they were giving up on scoring another goal, they certainly didn't want us to score either. After what had happened earlier when we scored, they were determined not to let something like that happen again.

So we did what we could and attacked from all angles. Performing crosses for headers, corner kicks, even charging down the middle. However, nothing seemed to work. Even with the formation change, neither Alpha nor our captain had any luck scoring. Alpha especially, who missed several shots and seemed even more anxious than ever to score. And as the 80th minute approached, all of us were more eager than ever to win. There was no way we were going home exhausted with two ties in a row.

After another crossbar deflection from Alpha, we were back on the defensive. Unlike last time, I dashed back without missing a beat and marked the same guy who had made his way past me. Instead of waiting for him to stop, I instead slid down and tackled him while he ran, eager to get the ball out of his feet. Immediately as he tripped and fell, the ball threatened to go out of bounds. I hastily stood back up and kicked it to the side and ran back on the offense. I also thanked Goddess for not getting fouled. That would've been ugly.

Time was running out. As I looked around, I saw my options were limited. Nearly every offensive player on our team was heavily guarded save for two. Alpha stood near the goal box completely open and frantically waving his hands, desperate for the ball. Joe, on the other hand, had a defender marking him while running around, trying to shake him off. Another player also slowly approached me as well, silently threatening to steal the ball away. If we were to win this game, I needed to make the right choice

 **What should I do?**

 **1\. Pass to Alpha. He may have missed many open shots, but seeing as how he's open this might be the lucky shot that makes it through.**

 **2\. Pass to Joe. Alpha's been missing a lot lately, so he's the safer bet. Since he's able to dribble as well as pass and score, the ball is safer in his possession.**

 **3\. Take a chance and try to score it myself. Since I'm a defender, most of the defense isn't really focused on me. If I shoot it now, I might be able to score.**


	12. Doubt

**Enjoy!**

 **Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

* * *

No. I was a defender, therefore scoring it myself was not an option. Alpha may be open, but seeing as how he had missed every shot he was given, he was no longer the safe option.

There was only one right choice.

Without wasting any more time, I performed a low cross towards the middle. Sorry Alpha.

 _Joe!_

Catching the ball with his feet, he approached the goal slowly despite the time crunch. Although he had the ball, other defenders stayed on their marks and kept their distance. A safe decision on their part, but once his mark had let his guard down, Joe immediately dashed forward. In a panic, all the other defenders rushed forward to intercept and tackle him. Unfortunately for them, Joe's legs were too fast and he performed a rainbow, bringing the ball above and out of the circle of defenders. The moment the ball was free, Joe immediately dashed forward and kicked the ball towards the goal. Because of the close distance, the goalkeeper didn't stand a chance and the goal was ours.

I and the rest of our team roared in celebration and dashed towards Joe, who performed a backflip and held his arms out in victory. I jumped onto his back as the first to approach him and held my fist high in the air. The rest of the team followed suit as they tackled Joe to the ground. The whistle then blew, signalling the end of the game and together we shook hands with the opposing team before carrying him back to the locker room in high spirits.

Even as we entered, it took a while for us to change as we continued celebrating in the locker room. We huddled in a loose circle as we jumped, chanted and screamed until our voices grew hoarse.

Our first victory!

I shifted around the circle to celebrate with my fellow freshmen and eventually found Joe and Eun-Wol. Alpha was nowhere to be seen, which I found strange since he was hard to miss with his bright blonde hair. I then shook my head. Well, now wasn't the time to think about that. He was probably somewhere in the crowd.

After a few more jumps and chants, we headed back to our lockers to change. It was only then was I able to spot Alpha. His head was down as if he was depressed we had lost a game, but maybe I was just overthinking things. Maybe he just didn't want to talk to anybody.

Drying myself and putting my school uniform back on, I slung my bag over my shoulder and made my way out.

"I'll be going on ahead. I'll see you guys outside."

Having received nods from both Joe and Eun-Wol, I looked back to see Alpha still changing with his head down. Wondering to see if he was okay, I put a hand over his shoulder.

"Are you alright, Alpha?" I asked.

Before I knew it, he turned and rocketed his fist to my cheek.

"Ugh!"

It came out of nowhere, and I felt myself falling back and hitting my head on one of the lockers as I fell.

"What the hell was that for?!" I heard him yell. "I WAS OPEN! YOU COULD'VE PASSED IT TO ME AND WE WOULD'VE WON!"

Before he could come any closer, Joe came from behind and locked his arms while pulling him away.

"Calm down! We already won the game!" he exclaimed.

"Are you alright?!" I felt Eun-Wol come over and sling my arm over his shoulder as he helped me stand.

"What's going on here?!"

Coach and the rest of the team soon came over to our side of the locker room, their faces full of curiosity and concern. Not wanting to draw any more attention, I waved my hand, dismissing the issue. While the looks never left their faces, they didn't stop Eun-Wol and I from leaving the locker room in hopes of escaping the chaos.

I could feel my head pulsating every step we took and my vision for some reason felt distorted. My left cheek felt hot and my teeth felt like they were about to fall off. Opening my mouth, I pushed on them a little and sighed in relief as they didn't budge. Still, I felt pain ripple through my face as I stretched my cheek.

The cold air hit as we walked outside, and immediately I let my hand go as it brushed over my cheek, effectively numbing it a little. I winced as I poked my cheek, feeling it harden as if it was already swelling.

"Are you alright?" Eun-Wol asked, a hint of urgency in his voice.

I smiled and nodded in hopes of calming some of the tension that had followed.

"I'm alright." While not sure if I had convinced him enough, thankfully the line of cars outside helped bring the attention away from me and back to them. Seeing dad in the driveway, we made eye contact and he waved to me. I could only nod in acknowledgement before the rest of the team arrived from the locker room, effectively blocking my view as they checked on me.

"Bro, are you okay?! I heard that, that was quite a hit!"

"Where did he hit you, man?!"

"Yo, that wasn't cool!"

Even after reassuring them that I was fine, they refused to disperse. It was only due to their parents waiting in the parking lot that they left. I looked back at the entrance of the locker room and saw Joe arriving alone. Neither Alpha nor the coach were anywhere to be seen. Upon seeing me, he rushed over and did the same as the others.

"Dude, are you alright?! I heard that man! That was a heavy blow!"

"I'm fine." I reassured him. "What about Alpha? What's up with him?"

Joe scrunched up his face as if I had just asked something stupid.

"You're seriously worried about him?! For goddess's sake Aaron, he just punched you because you didn't pass to him!"

I shrugged. "Eh, it doesn't hurt as much as you think. And who knows? Maybe he's having some issues. I mean, he had a point. We might've won if I had passed to him." I replied, trying to loosen things up a little.

Unfortunately, that only made Joe's face scrunch up harder.

"Aaron. You helped us win by passing it to me. You did a good thing. Stop discrediting yourself."

"Agreed." Eun-Wol chimed in.

I smiled at their support. At that they both raised an eyebrow, probably unsure of what I was smiling about. Fortunately, they both just shrugged it off, to which I was thankful for. It made me feel bad to have so many people doting on me.

"Well my dad's here. You want a ride home?" I asked.

Joe shook his head. "Nah man, I already have one. Oh look she's here!"

Joe waved to someone in the distance, and suddenly the back door of one of the cars in line opened, revealing a girl with bright orange hair. She waved back to him and rushed over. As she approached and I got a better look at her familiar features, I realized who she was.

Even if she had seen me as she was running towards Joe, she made no indication of it as she jumped and embraced Joe.

"I was watching the match! You did so well!" she exclaimed.

"Aww thank you~!" the tone in which he said sounded so annoying, yet familiar. I looked over at Eun-Wol and saw him just as confused as I was.

"I saw your goal! That was so cool!"

"Aww you flatter me~!" The way he spoke became so exaggerated that I almost had trouble remembering this was the same guy I knew since elementary school. Then again, he did the same in my car the dad took him home.

 _Wait a minute…_

"No way…"

Finally remembering that we were present, Joe cleared his throat and gently let the girl down.

"Er-Ahem. Guys, this is-"

Before he could finish, I decided to finish it for him.

"Jett. Your not-girlfriend, right?"

"She is not-! Uh...yeah. Right."

I smiled as I saw Jett's eyes narrow as she looked at him, but soon the look faded as she turned back to us.

"Now here's a familiar face." she said, turning to me. "How are you and your sister?"

"Fine actually. She really liked the drink you bought for her." I replied. "I promise I'll pay you back one day."

Jett smiled at the comment. Seeing her again now, it was weird how different she was from when we first met. Now she was smiling more widely. Maybe it was just because I didn't know her as well yet. There was something about her though, that made me think Joe had a small part in it, but maybe it was just me. Maybe it was just the way she latched onto him.

Whatever it was though, I was happy for them.

The sound of honks hit me full force, and I turned to see dad waving to me as he finally reached the front of the line, where we stood.

"Alright, well I have to go. I'll see you guys later."

"Take it easy man." Joe said. I notice it's not said in casual address but out of genuine concern.

"Rest yourself." Eun-Wol said, padding my shoulder.

"Will do."

Getting into the car, dad smiled and waved at Joe before turning his eyes back to the road.

" **Sao? Đội con có thắng không?"** (So? Did you guys win?)

"Yeah," I replied, realizing how tired I was. I sounded a little less enthusiastic than I probably should have been. "2-1. We made a last-minute goal."

" **Sao vậy? Sao con không nhìn vui?"** (What's wrong? Why don't you sound excited?)

Instinctively I put a hand over my cheek to prevent him from seeing the bruise, if there was any at all. As I felt my hand slap my cheek, I flinched a little, feeling the sting ripple throughout my face. I bit my lip to hold back the pain in hopes dad wouldn't take notice. Things often got difficult when he started worrying and asking questions, and I wasn't in the mood to deal with an interrogation.

" **Con chỉ mệt thôi."** I said, hoping he'd be convinced and leave it at that. (I'm just a little tired)

"Mm."

And just like that, the conversation was over.

 _*VRRR*_

Checking my phone for the new message, I noticed the familiar number and checked it right away.

 _Just saw the results. Congrats! Sux u couldn't score tho._

If there was one thing I knew, if there were any "shortened" words in her texts, it meant she was probably busy. Otherwise she'd text using complete words. Looking back, I couldn't believe I was taking note of these small things. What's more, I texted her more than I texted back any of my friends here. Then again, I saw them in person more often. Even so, it was still strange how quick we got used to each other.

 _Thanks. You sang well at the concert._

 _Don't lie, bet u wrnt even watching :P_

 _XD_

Yeah, she was right. I wasn't watching, How could I? I was so nervous I couldn't focus on anything else but the game today. Well it wasn't like it was lost to time. I'm sure there'd be a recording of it somewhere on ViewTube so I could just watch it from there. On another note, it was surprising to know that our games were broadcasted on local T.V. I mean, sure I noticed the cameras and the camera crews hanging around the stadium, but I had always thought our games were recorded solely for the purpose of the school, not the T.V. With so many new things around, it still sort of came as a shock to me. Heck, her even bothering to turn on the T.V just to watch us play made me feel special a bit.

Speaking of her, after our initial-no... _second_ encounter, I started listening to her music. I had to admit, her songs were catchy. She had a large vocal range and the catchy beats with somewhat relatable lyrics made her rise to fame a bit more understandable. She even had several million plays on Musify, even more than my favorite band. Heck even Rose enjoyed listening to her, and she was pretty picky in her choice of good songs. Even I found myself enjoying her music and saving some of her songs on my playlists.

Good thing nobody would ever know.

* * *

"Ow…"

The stinging had worsened ever since the punch, and unfortunately a good night's rest did nothing to alleviate it. Brushing my teeth and washing my face had become difficult. Things certainly didn't help as my bruise made itself even more visible by darkening.

I poked at it a few times, feeling the hard texture of my cheek and wincing as I did so. Well, it was nothing my hand couldn't cover. I had also thought of an excuse if dad were to get suspicious as well. Then again, there was always the possibility of him not believing. Overall, just making sure he never saw it was the best option.

Normally I would've opted to skip breakfast, but since I had barely eaten anything since yesterday, breakfast didn't sound so bad. Eggs were out of the question, as the oil would make a loud bubbling noise. While I was sure that wouldn't wake dad up, it was better not to take chances. That said, cereal was the only option here.

Opening one of the drawers, I grabbed the box of "Moon Bunny's Rice Cakes" cereal and inspected it, hoping there was at least enough to feed both me and Rose before pouring it out.

"Welp, thank you Goddess for the food…"

I winced as I took the first bite. I could feel the sugar coursing through my tongue and burning it slightly as it did so. How the heck did Rose manage to eat this stuff for so long? It was tasty, but it screamed unhealthy. To make matters worse, every movement of my cheek caused the stinging to return. Why? Why did breakfast have to be so laborious?

Today was not a good day.

...

With so much that had happened yesterday, I figured it was better to just head straight to class. As of right now, I didn't really want to talk to anyone. To my surprise, the door was left open and what awaited me was warm air and an empty classroom. Save for Mr. Grendel of course. Upon my entrance, he lifted his eyes from my book and gave me a warm smile.

"Well, good morning Aaron." he greeted.

"Good morning, Mr. Grendel." I greeted back, a little surprised he even took the effort to remember my name. Sure he and I might have conversed a little during classes, but the amount of times that had happened could be counted on two hands. Nevertheless though, I couldn't say I didn't enjoy them, or the class. Mr. Grendel, despite being old, really had a way of connecting with his students and helping them understand and enjoy biology. Thinking about it now, I think biology may have been my strongest class.

Well, there was Viet too, but my grade in that class was lower than biology. Not like I'd ever let dad know though. Him knowing that probably would've cost me my laptop despite how high it was.

"So what had you arrive so early today? Eager for a new lesson in biology?" he asked.

"Something like that." I replied, which I wasn't really lying about. I _was_ eager.

He only hummed in response, sounding unconvinced but deciding not to ask further. Instead, he went ahead and moved on.

"Well, since you're here early, why don't you pass up your homework to my desk to get if off your mind?"

I did as I was told, single-handedly grabbing out several sheets of paper from my folder and handing it over to him. Mr. Grendel turned his head slightly as he looked at me and raised an eyebrow while eyeing my covered cheek.

"Is something on your cheek?" he asked.

For a minute I debated on whether or not I should tell him. Sure I may have been punched, and sure Alpha may have been mad at me, but I wasn't sure if this was something worth mentioning to others, especially school staff. Before I could say anything, however, Mr. Grendel dismissed the issue with his hand.

"Ah, there's no need to answer. I'm sure you're capable of resolving the issue on your own. Forgive me, I shouldn't have pried."

I nodded and smiled, making sure not to smile too wildly to make my cheeks hurt, thankful he decided not to push the issue. "No problem."

After a few minutes, more students arrived and the classroom was full before the bell rang. I gave Lapis a nod of acknowledgement as he came and sat next to me. He nodded back and seemed to want to say something, but decided against it. Class continued as usual, my hand on my cheek not really serving as much of a handicap while I wrote my notes. Thankfully there were no tests or quizzes this week, as things had been a little hectic, but then again it wasn't like I had anything to worry about. All of my grades were well above the 90 range.

As class ended, I packed my things and got ready to leave. Before I could walk out the door, however, Lapis tapped my shoulder, gesturing he wanted us to meet somewhere before we moved on. Once we were behind one of the buildings and away from sight, he gave a sigh of relief.

"Hey man, I heard about what happened yesterday. Are you okay?" he asked, his signature smile gone.

"Eh, I'll be fine." I reassured him. "Nothing that won't heal within a few days I hope."

Lapis nodded in relief, most likely happy to know I wasn't too upset.

"Thanks. Listen man, I just wanted to say sorry for whatever it is that happened. Alpha isn't always like that."

I nodded in understanding. Still though, there was some doubt in my mind. Was there something I could've done to avoid this from happening?

"Can you tell me what happened? I've noticed that for the past few days neither he nor Beta have been themselves."

Lapis nodded in agreement.

"It's...complicated. I'll let you know when he's ready. It's his problem after all. I don't wanna say anything yet, but I just want you to know that whatever happened yesterday wasn't your fault. It was mine for not realizing what the twins were going through. Don't worry about meeting him today. They're taking some time off from school."

I inwardly sighed in relief and tapped his shoulder to let him know I wasn't mad. He said a word of thanks before we parted ways.

Sure enough, neither Alpha nor Beta were anywhere to be seen during class, break or lunch. On the plus side, nearly all of the soccer team rushed over to check on me the moment they spotted me.

It took a lot of reassurance, but eventually they accepted that I was okay and dispersed, making sure to congratulate me for the assist and Joe for the goal.

Upon finding a spot where we could eat in peace, Lapis and Lazuli came and found us. Just like what he did with me, Lazuli apologized and tried to explain what was going on.

"You're alright, right?" Lazuli asked, bending down to meet my gaze. I was taken aback a little by the fact that she even acknowledged my presence at all. To make things weirder, she even looked _concerned_.

"Uh...yeah. I suppose…"

From the corner of my eye I could see Joe smirk.

"Well, looks like Aaron's finally won some brownie points!" he laughed.

At that comment, Lazuli immediately withdrew her hand and instead used it to slap Joe's knee.

"Hey! I only did it because I don't want him to get mad at Alpha! That's all!" Lazuli then humphed and walked away, back to her old self.

Once she was gone though, Joe's faced turned serious.

"It's Will, isn't it?" he asked.

Lapis nodded his head without saying anything else and Joe nodded in understanding. Eun-Wol and I could only stare in ignorance.

"I figured. At this point I can understand, but it was still uncool of him to punch Aaron just because he didn't pass it to him. He never did that to me. He owes Aaron an apology."

"I'm sure he feels terrible about it already. I guess at the time he was too eager to prove himself, which was why he kept messing up. When he didn't get the chance to prove himself, he got mad."

"Who's Will?" Eun-Wol asked, something that I had been curious about as well. Joe and Lapis looked at one another as if debating whether or not to tell us everything. After a few seconds Joe spoke.

"Just someone that none of us like. Besides, you've seen him before. Remember the guy who approached Alpha after our game with PSG?"

It took me a while to recall, but I did vaguely remember some guy in glasses who stepped out of a car.

"You mean the tall guy with glasses?"

"That's the guy. He and the twins have some history."

Seeing as how they went no further than that, I guessed it was better not to pry. Maybe Alpha would talk when he was ready.

"Sorry guys…" Lapis said. "Maybe when they're ready they'll let you know. For now though, I'll check on them after school." With that, Lapis saluted and left.

Come soccer practice, Alpha's absence didn't go unnoticed as some teammates asked for his whereabouts. Even so, things continued normally as if it was no big deal, to which I was thankful for. It made practice a little less awkward. Some still patted my back in reassurance, but other than that, practice continued like it always had. Still, it sucked to have one less friend join in.

"Your steps are slow Aaron! Lift up your feet!" coach yelled, bringing me out of my trance. I immediately complied, realizing I still needed to focus.

As practice went on, the usual atmosphere between us freshmen gradually returned to normal. We started talking to each other again and Joe, Eun-Wol and I struck conversations with one another about random topics such as clubs and music. As practice went on, we had almost forgotten Alpha was missing from our group.

After practice, before I got changed, coach called me over so he could examine my cheek.

"Hm...it's darkening, but it doesn't look too bad. In fact, it's already fading." he said, as he looked it over. "Would you like a bandage?"

I shook my head, telling him a bandage would be redundant since it was already fading. Plus, I'd get in trouble for not telling dad about it. Even so, I sighed in relief knowing it took less than a day for it to fade. Giving it one more poke, I no longer felt the pain I had since this morning.

"What happened yesterday?" coach asked, crossing his arms and giving me a stern look.

"To be honest I don't know…" I replied. "I think it's a personal issue, but I guess it was because I didn't pass to him for the final goal. Because of that he got mad and punched me."

"Hm. Earlier this morning his friends came over to explain the situation to me. Even though I have some sort of understanding over what's going on, I'm trusting you both to find a way to come to an agreement of some sort. It's very early in the season and I'd rather not have to kick someone out of the team if I don't have to. Understood? I'm not mad nor am I saying anyone is at fault here. However, if we're going to win games, we have to work together as a team. Understood?"

I nodded in confirmation to which he nodded back and eased his look.

"Alright."

"Anh Hai, your face is purple!" Rose yelled, pointing at my uncovered cheek.

And just like that, my decisions come to haunt me.

"Shhh! Rose!" I yelled, immediately she covered her mouth.

I sighed in defeat as I heard footsteps approaching from the carpeted hallway. Once dad appeared, his loose eyebrows immediately furrowed as he noticed the bruise on my cheek.

Without saying a word, he lifted my head to inspect it. He brushed his fingers over the bruise, causing me to flinch as the pain rose.

" **Có đau lắm không?** " he asked sternly. (Does it hurt bad?)

"Not really." I reassured for what seemed like the tenth time, realizing how much it sucked that this could've been avoided if I had just told the truth.

" **Ai làm vậy?** " (Who did this?)

Realizing I had no way out, I told him the condensed story of everything that had happened yesterday. I did my best to reassure him that everything was okay and there was no issue, but it was hard to tell what he was feeling as his expression never changed as he listened. After I finished, he sat still for a moment with Rose sitting by his side, anxious to see how he would react. After a few more seconds of silence, dad nodded and patted my head.

"Everything will be okay, right?" he asked.

"Yup."

"Alright then. If anything happens, let me know."

And with that, he returned to his work.

While he left though, I could tell he wasn't thoroughly convinced.

Made sense I guess. Even after the reassurance I had received, I wasn't sure I was convinced either.

* * *

 **Anything you liked? Hated? Thought I could do better? Don't hesitate to let me know!**

 **On another note, I've been reading some of my past chapters and realized they didn't fit my current standards, so I'll be working on improving them. Depending on how school goes, it could take quite a while before the next one comes out. Still, I hope you guys enjoyed this!**


	13. Going out

**Happy Summer everybody!**

 **Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

* * *

I sat down and covered my cheek with my hand almost as if it had already become a habit.

"Hmmm…"

Feeling wise, not much had progressed since the time I was punched. My cheek still felt bruised, but it was still a relief to feel that it had softened a little bit and didn't hurt so much anymore. Combine that with the fact that it was no longer purple when I looked in the mirror this morning, things seemed to be returning to normal again. If the pain hadn't made me flinch, I might've been fooled into thinking it was the cold hardening my cheek.

I exhaled, seeing my breath materialize in front of me.

Weekends were a bit weird for me nowadays. Back when I had no friends, I'd typically head home and spend the entire day playing games with Rose after I finished my usual morning workout. Nowadays, playing the same thing became boring and I didn't want to stay cooped up in the house forever. Dad agreed too, seeing as how he started egging me to go outside and hang out with others.

That brought us to now as I sat on one of the cold park benches contemplating on what to do for the day. I didn't want to go home yet since I had been cooped up there for the past week. I felt it was beyond time for me to get out and do something. I thought about calling Joe, but I didn't want to risk calling him if he was busy.

 _*Ding*_

 _Hey Ronnie! You doing anything today?_

Well, would you look at that.

" _Nope. Absolutely nothing."_ was my immediate reply.

 _Cool! You wanna come over and hang out?_

And with that I finally had plans. Hastily texting dad where I'd be for a while, I jogged my way up to Joe's house to burn off some of the cold that had been settling in my body while I rested.

Even though it was snowing, I felt my body quickly being heated up from the warm up suits given to us from the soccer team, allowing me to maintain a steady pace while not freezing my entire body. The benefits of being on a sports team.

The moment I knocked on his door, I was answered within seconds.

"Ronnie!" Joe exclaimed, fully covered in winter clothing. "Come in and warm yourself up. Let me get the chocolate ready."

"Oh no you don't-" I started, but I was quickly cut off.

"Too late! I already made it. If you don't drink it you're gonna make me feel bad!" he said, his voice slightly muffled by his scarf.

I sighed in defeat knowing he had me beat. Still, I figured I could still use some warming up.

"Here ya go!"

"Thanks." I said, accepting the hot beverage.

The brown liquid slightly seared my tongue as it entered my mouth, causing me to blow on the cup. Nevertheless, it still retained the original sweet chocolatey flavor of the ones his dad had made. I remembered asking him how he had made it, but all he would do was laugh with Joe and tell me it was a secret. Tasting it now reminded me of how much I had missed it.

"Is that all you're wearing? It's damn cold outside!" Joe said, pointing at my lack of layers.

Huh, I had forgotten how much he hated the cold weather. It was one of the many differences we had and one of the more petty things he and I used to fight over. Despite liking many of the same things, we also had our different preferences. Joe always preferred summer and somehow enjoyed being roasted in the sun. I, on the other hand, preferred winter and its freezing environment. That's not to say I didn't enjoy summer, especially since it gave me the longest break from school, but the heat somehow had its way at making you hate life. I'm sure there were many other differences between us as well, but for this moment, weather stood out the most.

"Anyway, let's finish these up and rush to the mall. Winter's approaching so while it may be crowded, the people there will mainly be shopping for clothes, which leaves the arcade open. We'll be able to use up all our money there. Let me call Wolly too and see if he's available."

"Sure thing."

As expected, even the subway was congested as we found ourselves be squeezed against the windows. Despite being crowded though, people seemed to be in festive moods as they conversed and laughed loudly. Hearing them talk served as a reminder that the holidays were near. Unfortunately, even the contagious festive mood did little to help us breathe better and it was only when the doors opened that we were allowed to breathe. As we somehow made our way into the shopping tower, we met with Eun-Wol, who waved to us near the arcade.

"How the heck did you get here so fast?!" Joe exclaimed as he tried to straighten out his ruffled clothes.

"My grandfather drove me. Much faster." he replied, giving a thumbs up.

"Well that's not fair. Next time we come here, you're taking the subway with us. It ain't right if we're the only ones who have to suffer."

"I can ask my grandfather to drive you guys if you want. I'm sure he won't mind."

"Nah, don't trouble yourself. Anyway, since we've all got money here, let's make it rain tickets!"

I had to admit, going to an arcade was a bit exciting. Back then we didn't have a lot of money, so arcade visits were rare. Even when we visited arcades, the amount of money I had to buy coins was low. Now that dad had a more stable and high-paying job, he was able to give me a lot more money, allowing me to try most if not all games in the arcade.

It was weird though, no longer did the machines take coins but rather I had to use the money to get a card with currency loaded onto it. That card was to be swiped on a reader on the machines to activate the game.

"Huh…" I mumbled, as the game activated right after I had swiped my card. I could get used to this.

"Alright! Ronnie, you take the guitar, Wolly, you take the drums and I'll handle the vocals." Joe said as he stepped to the toy microphone.

"Aren't you good at guitar?" Eun-Wol asked, raising an eyebrow at Joe.

"He absolutely sucks at a fake guitar though." I answered for him, causing him to scoff. "I don't know why either. It's like those guitar skills are a lie."

"Hey, shut up! Some guitar songs are harder in the game than they are in real life. Anyway, the game's starting!"

I wasn't really proficient in guitar so I couldn't really say anything. Nevertheless, Joe at least had a good singing voice and I was at least good at the guitar controller.

" _Boycott love! Detox just to retox!"_ Joe sang, correctly staying within the vocal range while Eun-Wol and I hit every note with our instruments. Together on a hard difficulty, we were able to gain a 99% accuracy, giving us a high number of tickets.

"Boom! Did ya'll see that? I'm on top of my singing game! Didn't even need a warmup!" Joe exclaimed, raising the mic high in the air.

"Uh-huh. How come you're never like that when you practice at home?" I teased, bringing back the times when he'd always have to start over every time he messed up a note while strumming his guitar.

"Hey that was back then in elementary school! I've gotten better!"

Swiftly moving on, we made our way through several game machines and gathered all the tickets we could earn. If felt weird though, even though we had many more friends, for this to be only between us...it felt as if we were purposefully leaving them out.

"Is it okay if it's just us?" I asked Joe, as we headed to another one of the games.

"What, you mean you, me and Wolly?" Joe asked.

"Yeah...I mean, what about Alpha and Beta? Lapis and Lazuli? Aren't they the ones who kinda need this?"

At that Joe simply sighed and stroked his hair. "Ronnie...you didn't forget that you just had gotten punched did you?"

"No I didn't but-"

"We know it bothers you." Eun-Wol said, joining in. "That's why we took you here. Not just to cheer you up, but to celebrate as well."

"Celebrate?" I asked.

"Right." Joe nodded. "Remember? You're our starting right-back now! Don't you think this calls for a celebration?"

"Uhh...maybe?" I asked, unsure if this was something worth celebrating.

"Then let's celebrate! C'mon, for just a one day, stop worrying about other people and show us how spirited you are by punching this bag!"

Stop worrying about other people? Easier said than done. In fact, I didn't even think it was possible for me. Still, they had a point. Now wasn't the time to spoil the mood and worry.

In front of me stood a punching machine. The card had already been swiped and the two simply stood at the side, awaiting my move.

"Alright then." I said, cracking a small smile at the reassurance.

Standing at the ready, I bounced a few times before launching a punch at it. The meter's numbers immediately rose past 100 and continued rising until it reached 728.

"Hey, not bad. Now watch me." Joe said, gesturing me to stand aside. After the meter reset, he immediately punched the hanging bag, causing the reading to rise even faster than before.

"Whoohoo! 810!"

"Hmph. Amateurs. Watch me." Eun-Wol smirked, finally walking up to the machine.

"Uh-oh. Looks like we'll have to take a few steps back." Joe said, bringing me back with him.

Together Joe and I stood from a slightly longer distance from Eun-Wol, who was motioning with his legs at the small bag. Taking a few more steps back, he twisted his body before taking a few steps forward before jumping and spinning in midair. While airborne, he used the momentum to perform a powerful kick, causing the machine to shake a little before reaching its max value: 999.

"New record." he said, crossing his arms and exerting his superiority over us while tickets rapidly began flying out of the machine.

Grabbing all the tickets we could, we went to the dispenser and got our receipts so we could redeem our rewards.

As it was an arcade, most of the prizes were mainly toys and small little things that didn't really cost a lot of money. Since there was pretty much nothing I wanted, I figured I'd get something for Rose and eventually settled on getting a stuffed dragon. It was fortunate we had entered the arcade when we did, as many of the shoppers seemingly were finished their shopping and were letting their kids run loose in the arcade. By the time we were out, much of the arcade was taken over by kids.

"Alright, now let's go somewhere else before people start overcrowding this place. Where to next?" I asked as we squeezed through the incoming crowd.

Joe then pointed to the food court. "How about we get some more hot chocolate?"

"But we just had some on the way here!" I replied.

"Yeah, but it's super cold even in the mall and the first one didn't really help since we had to be out in the snow immediately after!"

He had a small point, but then again, I enjoyed the cold so I decided to opt out.

Eun-Wol then raised an eyebrow. "Hot chocolate?"

"Yeah! A hot drink that tastes like chocolate! What, you've never had it before?" I asked.

" _ **Aneyo.**_ The only hot thing I've drinked is tea." he shrugged.

Joe's eyebrows scrunched as he heard this. "What?! You've never-! Okay, first thing before we finish for the day is get you some hot chocolate!"

At his reaction, Eun-Wol rapidly shook his head while waving his hands. "It's okay, you don't need to-" he started, but Joe didn't give him a chance to reply before pulling him into one of the coffee shops.

"C'mon Ronnie! Don't let him escape!"

Deciding not to get in line, I watched as Eun-Wol silently called on me for help while Joe ordered chocolates for all of us. I simply shrugged and gave him a thumbs up, letting him know everything was going to be okay. Within minutes, they both left the shop and handed a cup to me.

I was about to reprimand Joe for getting me another one when I didn't ask for it but decided to shake off the thought, realizing it was already too late as he had already bought it for me. Saying thanks, I took a sip of the beverage, recognizing the difference in taste. I figured in calling out the lack of flavor, but kept silent to prevent Joe from becoming too full of himself. Eun-Wol had the opposite reaction as he continuously nodded his head as he took repeated sips.

"Good?" Joe asked.

"Very good! Very Chocolatey!" he replied between sips. Before long, he had gulped the entire thing down. I'm pretty sure the size was large as well.

"Well if you want more, come to my house. I can make a better one."

 _*Ding!*_

Somehow hearing my phone through the sound of crowding people, I opened the unread message from a familiar number.

 _Hey! I'm in town and shopping for clothes! Are you available to meet at Kerning Tower today?_

"Huh…" I mumbled. So she was here? Not knowing how long I had left, I hurried back a text.

 _Way ahead of you. I'm in Kerning Tower right now._

 _*Ding!*_

 _Great! If you have time, you mind stopping by? I need to some help choosing what to wear._

 _I don't mind, but don't you have professionals to do it for you?_

 _*Ding!*_

 _They only choose what I wear on stage, not what I wear in public! Anyway, are you coming?_

So lost in thought, I nearly jumped when I felt Joe's tap on my shoulder.

"You ready to go back?" he asked.

"Uhh...how about you guys go home first? I uh…" I stuttered, pondering whether or not to tell them the truth. "My dad told me to buy some stuff before I came home."

"Oh really? Well if you want we can help you." They said in unison.

I refused their offer, unsure of whether or not something like this was worth sharing. "Nah, don't trouble yourselves. You guys already did enough. I'll do this on my own."

They both looked at each other before shrugging and turning the other way.

"Alright. Stay safe man. See you at school!"

Waving to them as they left, I hurried back to my phone the moment they got a reasonable distance away.

 _On my way. Which store are you in?_

 _*Ding!*_

 _Great! You can find me right near El Nath Inc._

El Nath Inc., Mr. Emes's company? Made sense I guess, they were near the top when it came to winter and sportswear. And during seasons like winter, there was no doubt the store would be overflowing. Making my way to the second floor, I searched for a store with a snowflake logo, as that was their symbol. I was able to spot the store rather quickly, not just because of the icon but also because of the crowd moving rampantly from within the store. With so many people moving around and yanking clothes off the hangers, it was hard to tell if there were any clothes left in the store.

Upon arriving, I scanned the immediate area, looking for any signs of white hair or anything that indicated she was here, but after a few seconds I found nothing. I then sat down on one of the benches in front of the store, intending to text her asking where she was.

That is until I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"There you are."

Looking up and to my right, I suddenly realized why I couldn't recognize her. She was dressed in all black from head to toe. Black hoodie, black mask, black sunglasses, black leggings and even black shoes. Her hair was completely hidden under the black cap she wore under her hoodie and the only thing I could see that wasn't black was her skin, but even then you could barely see it due to how well she covered herself.

"I was looking all over for you!" she said, her voice muffled by her mask.

"Well that's easy for you to say." I replied, raising an eyebrow. "You can still see my face."

"Yeah, well try being famous and bombarded by a whole bunch of fans the moment you're out in public. You're going to hate it when it's them who stop you from going places and getting the things you want. Not saying I don't love my fans but sometimes they forget I'm human too you know?"

"Touche." I replied in understanding.

"Anyway, let's go in before they completely sell out." she said, pulling me into the store. "I wanna at least get a jacket before leaving this place."

Heading into the store, we somehow made our way through the chaos and into the jackets section. Despite it being crowded, winter coats, beanies and fur jackets were somehow still hanging in the store.

"These are the more expensive of what the store has to offer." Orchid remarked, rummaging through the jackets on the tables and hangers. "El Nath Inc. isn't exactly known for its low prices on its winter wear."

I had to agree on her with that. Eight thousand mesos on a single adult winter coat definitely wasn't cheap, but I'd be damned if I said it wasn't effective. Dad once bought me a kids sized jacket for around one third of the price and I wore it almost every day for the winter. Because it had shielded me so well against the cold, I had forgotten for a long time how cold winters could be. The only reason why I stopped wearing the coat was because I had outgrown it.

"What do you think about this?"

Turning my attention back to Orchid, I noticed she had already put on a bright purple winter coat decorated with gold buttons. She then twirled, showing me all sides of the coat. I looked and pondered for a while, trying to take in all the features and be as honest as I could

Before I could answer, she pointed a finger at me. "And before you answer, just tell me honestly."

Well, alright then.

"Well for starters, it looks a little too bright." I started, pointing at the color. "It sort of makes you stand out, and I wouldn't say it's a good color for keeping you warm. I don't think the bright purple goes with gold either. Something darker would be a better choice."

Upon realizing what I had just said, I paused. Questions all of a sudden shot through my mind. Was I being offensive? Should I have just stuck with the color? Why didn't I take in her preferences first? Ugh, I'm such an idiot!

"Yeah, I thought so too. I'm not a fan of bright colors either. Thanks for being honest with me. I just wanted to see if you were really being honest. How about this?" she asked without missing a beat, this time holding up a black coat in the same style.

"Much better. Black suits you. " I nodded, relieved she hadn't taken any offense.

"Great! I'll take this then. Let's move on. I want to get some pants and boots too."

Moving deeper into the congested store, I offered to carry her coat while she decided on what she wanted to wear. I didn't know much about fashion but I tried to stay as honest as I could, saying things like "too bright" or "not a good design", though I hardly knew if whatever I was saying was helpful at all. We moved to different stores like _Root Abyss_ and _Sweetwater_ to buy other things as well. Actually it was more like she bought them and I carried everything, but other than that, most of our time was spent talking to each other.

"You know I've been wondering…" I started, letting her place a pair of socks on the small pile I was carrying.

"Hm?" she answered, not really eyeing me.

"Why call me? I mean, don't you have other people to do this for you?"

"Well yeah, but right now they're on their break. I mean, people need some time off right? I do too, which is why I'm here shopping." she replied, almost as if she was trying to hold back her annoyance at being asked this so often.

"But me specifically? What about people at your school? What about the people who follow you around all the time? Like uh...Francis?" I asked.

"Francis is at home, which means he'll have to take time to get ready and take the subway here. Knowing him, he'll take a while to get ready and by the time he comes most of what I want will already be gone. That said, he wouldn't work."

"But why me though…?" I mumbled, finally realizing I had already decided on carrying everything she landed on me.

"What was that?" she asked, finally turning to me.

"Nothing." I said, straightening my back.

She furrowed her brows from under her sunglasses, but made no response as she made one last selection of leggings. "Anyway, my turn to ask questions. First, what happened to your cheek?" She then pointed to my injured cheek.

I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing what she was talking about. "What about it?"

I nearly flinched as her index finger nearly touched my cheek. "You know, the obvious? The fact that it's bruised?"

Instinctively my hand immediately rose to cover my cheek only to be weighed down by the clothes I was carrying. Was it really that obvious? I thought it had nearly been gone when I checked this morning! Still, even if she knew it wasn't like there was anything she could do about it.

"I'm pretty sure it's just dirty…" I said, dismissing the issue. She hummed in response but made no effort to push the issue.

"Mmhm. Fine. Next question, what were YOU doing here? Based on the fact that you only had a dragon when you came, I guess it's safe to assume you weren't buying clothes."

"Oh yeah. My friends decided to take me out and help me celebrate becoming the starting right-back for the soccer team. Not too big of a deal but they decided to do it anyway."

"Really? Well congratulations! Make sure to keep it up or else you'll lose your spot."

"Thanks."

Reaching the register, she handed the cashier her card. After the purchase we were finally able to stuff all the clothes into a bag and then we were off. Upon nearly reaching the exit, she abruptly pulled me to the side and positioned me in front of her.

"What the- mmph?!"

Without warning, she covered my mouth with her hand and put a finger to her mask, signalling me to be quiet.

"Stay in front of me." she whispered, slowly removing her hand from my mouth and creeping towards the exit.

Following her, I looked around hoping to see whatever was the cause of her change in demeanor.

"What's going on?" I whispered to her.

"Whatever you do, just look and straight ahead and listen to what I tell you."

I nodded as I looked forward, seeing the exit near. As we moved, she slowly turned her head to the side. I was about to do the same since I was curious, but before I had the chance, she grabbed my cheeks to prevent me from doing so.

"Don't look, but there's a creepy old man a few meters away. That's my manager. He wants me back in the studio to record new songs but right now I'm hiding from him."

"I thought you were on your break?" I whispered, trying to stay as quiet as I could.

Orchid's face soured at my question. "I am, but he doesn't care. The sooner I release songs the more money he makes. He doesn't care about my health or wellbeing. That's why I need to hide."

I nodded in understanding, realizing her life wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.

"Orchid! I finally found you!" an elderly voice behind us yelled. All of a sudden, more voices followed immediately after.

"Orchid?!"

"She's here?!"

"Orchid?! My queen is here?!"

If we weren't in such a hurry, I might've laughed at the last one.

"Quick! Run for it!" she yelled, hastily dashing towards the exit. I easily kept up with her as we ran, the only problem being that I had to somehow keep the clothes bag and stuffed dragon from falling out of my arms. Based on how fast we were running I figured we were a reasonable distance away and looked back to see how far the crowd was.

Oh boy was I wrong.

"Can I have an autograph?!"

"May I touch you?!"

"Is he your boyfriend?!"

Seeing them barely seven steps away despite not being their target set my body into overdrive. I could feel my heartbeat quicken as my legs did the same. Grabbing her hand I sped forward, slowing down a bit to make sure she could keep up with me.

Dashing through the automatic doors, we hurried and took a sharp turn, hiding behind one of the cars in the parking lot. As we laid low, we could hear the voices of the crowd settling on splitting up to look for her. I held my breath as we heard rustling that seemed dangerously near and begged Goddess to lead the searcher away as I was short on breath. It was only when it had gone quiet for a minute that we allowed ourselves to look up.

"The coast is clear…" I whispered in relief.

"Ow…" turning to my right, Orchid gripped her wrist in pain.

"Oh sorry!" whispered, gently grabbing her wrist. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, you just caught me by surprise. You're pretty fast you know, then again, maybe that's why you're a starter on the soccer team. Anyway, just give me a moment…" she said, as she slowly started removing her covers. Rapidly shaking her head, her hair waved around, smacking me with the scent of lavender. Her purple eyes glowed along with her light skin. Somehow even the black clothes she was wearing didn't look so dark anymore.

"Whoa.."

For some reason everything felt so…

...

"What?" she asked, snapping her fingers at me, suddenly bringing me out of whatever trance I was in. "Snap of it, Maple Boy. Your job isn't done yet."

I rolled my eyes at her comment but made no retaliation, eager to just let things flow and get the day over with.

"C'mon, let's get outta here. The subway isn't too far from here." she said.

I was about to comment on her lack of covers seeing as how the subway would be packed with people, but shut my mouth as soon as she put them back on.

The ride back home was uneventful to say the least as we couldn't find things to say to one another, but somehow it didn't feel awkward. In fact, it was a little calming.

"You mind me asking another question?" she finally asked, after we had gotten off and started walking through the snow.

"Sure thing." I replied.

"How do you and Joe know each other? He's never mentioned you to me before." She seemed genuinely curious about this as she rested her chin on her palms while eyeing me.

"We're childhood friends. We've known each other since elementary school and have been friends since. Regarding mentioning me, well maybe that's because you're not that close to him yet." I pondered for a moment to make sure I hadn't left any details out but then figured there wasn't any need to expand on anything.

She hummed in response, keeping me in the dark about what she was thinking. Realizing she had asked more questions than I did, I shot her a question.

"How do _you_ and Joe know each other?"

"His dad and my dad are friends." she answered. "His dad sometimes visits my dad and Joe sometimes tags along."

"You guys don't seem to get along very well."

She hummed again, not really giving me a clear answer as to why, making me more curious. I thought about pressing for more on their relationship, but decided against it. Maybe it was something personal. Before I knew it, we had already arrived at her house.

She raised an eyebrow at me as I stood outside while she entered her house. "You're not going to come in?"

"Well I figured you'd take the bag from me and go in yourself." I shrugged. "Are you sure it's okay for me to come in?"

"Oh come on, neither me nor my parents are that strict. Just remember to take your shoes off before entering." she sighed.

Huh. Not too different from the way my family treats guests. Strange, I thought we were the only ones who took off our shoes before entering the house.

Doing as I was told, I stepped foot into the fancy two-story house and was immediately hit by a sudden change in environment.

The scent of flowers, marble floors, a twisted staircase, a chandelier, and don't even get me started on the furniture…

"Whoa…" I whispered, having never seen a home so fancy before. Somehow I felt so out of place. Like...an uninvited guest. It felt like if I had touched anything, it would break.

"Just pour all of it here." she said, pointing to the couch on the side.

"We're not going to fold it?" I asked, worried that the pile would cause a mess.

"Well it's not like I bought all that much. Besides, I can fold all of them before my parents come home."

I did as I was told and let the contents of the bag fall onto the soft couch. It wasn't too big, but it was big enough to form a pile.

"Well, all that's left now is to fold it. Anyway that's it for today. See you tomorrow?"

I raised an eyebrow at her and eyed the pile on the sofa. Yeah, there was no way I was just letting this be.

"Argh, just let me fold everything first and then I'll leave."

"Wait no, you don't have to-"

"I _want_ to. Besides, it won't take me long to get this done and it'd make me uncomfortable if I just left it like this."

Setting aside my stuffed dragon, I hurried up and got to work. Using a technique that my dad taught me, I was able to get through one shirt in less than five seconds. I could hear Orchid whisper a "whoa" as I worked.

Yeah that's right, praise me. Just wait until she knows I can cook, vacuum, and do laundry.

Anyway, I folded whatever I could and left the jackets alone as they were better off being hanged. Gathering everything into different piles, I admired my handiwork and estimated that I had finished well within five minutes. I offered to carry it up to her room, but she vehemently refused, taking the piles with her and heading to her room herself. I was a little suspicious, but I wasn't going to pry.

"Thanks." she said, bowing slightly to me. "See you next time?"

"Sure…" I replied, unsure of how long "next time" was with how we attended different schools and our far apart our lives were.

"Wait!" Before I could exit the house, I felt her hand latch onto mine. "One more question before you go?"

I nodded, silently giving her my approval.

"When are you available next time? I…I think we should do this again."

"Let's see…" I tried to recall if anything important had been mentioned to occur the week after but couldn't find anything. Still, I didn't want to make her wait or cancel plans last minute so I decided to go with a safer route.

"I'm not really sure." I replied. "But I'll let you know when I'm available."

She nodded. "I'll hold you to that."

I nodded one more time and waved goodbye before turning the other way and heading home.

So much time had passed while I was out that I didn't notice it was already past lunch. I hadn't eaten anything yet. While I was greeted by the both of them the moment I came home, Rose was busy with the piano while Dad was busy with work. With nothing else to do, I set the stuffed dragon on top of Rose's desk as I went into my room having finally realized how exhausted I was.

 _Ding!_

A message from Joe. Was he suspecting me of something? Was it because of earlier?

 _Hey man, Alpha says he wants to talk to all of us. You especially. You think you can make it tomorrow?_

I stared at the text as the events of last week came flooding into my mind. What did Alpha want to talk to me about? Joe wasn't the type to leave me in the dark which meant he was left in the dark as well. With how ambiguous it was, it made me a little anxious.

 **Should I meet with them tomorrow?**

 **Yes**

 **No**

* * *

 **Name: Orchid Schwarz**

 **Gender: Female**

 **Birthdate: April 22**

 **Age: 14-15**

 **Appearance: Slightly petite, but not too short or skinny. Fair skinned with purple/amethyst eyes and silver hair often tied into twin tails. Likes to wear coats and blazers over her shoulder without wearing the sleeves and often wears black leggings.**

 **Interests: Music and fashion**

 **Hobbies: Singing, writing/songwriting, dancing, modeling, music composition.**

 **Dream Job: Unknown**

 **Interesting info: Likes rabbits and things related to them. Has rich parents and is very rich herself. Although she may come off as haughty and arrogant, there are times when she can be mature and kind-hearted. People are often surprised to find out she has friends in school, but she tries not to get too close to them for unknown reasons.**

 **She is also very intelligent as she averages high scores in all her subjects despite her busy schedule, making many fellow students bitter.**

 **As a pop star, she is very popular despite being very young. Many critics praise her for her songwriting skills and her first EP reached to number nime int he charts.**

 **When she was recruited into Black Wings Entertainment, she was initially going to be in a pop duo, however, because of a certain incident, she is now a solo artist. Nobody knows the true story behind this besides her, her family and the agency.**

 **She is NOT an only child, despite what many may believe.**

* * *

 **Anything you liked? Hated? Thought could be done better? Please don't hesitate to let me know!**


	14. Relief

**Wow, I should not have taken as long as I have to release this one. Really sorry everyone, but I've been a combination of busy with trying to find a job and lax with enjoying my time out of the country. I didn't want to keep you guys waiting too long though, so I released this as fast as I could after getting back from vacation.**

 **That said...**

 **Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

* * *

Why was I even debating this? This wasn't just for me or Alpha, it was for the entire team. Our friendship, our team chemistry, and even our school lives depended on this choice. It was obvious what I needed to do.

Taking a deep breath and grabbing my phone, I hurried back a text.

 _I'll be there. Just let me know the time._

So this was it. There was no point in going back now.

I shivered. Whether it was in anticipation or due to the snow, I blew onto my hands, hoping the heat would make it stop. I was a few minutes early, but surprisingly nobody had shown up to the meeting place. Mushroom Park, was it? I was sure I had the right address. Nevertheless, I decided to wait a little longer. Maybe everyone would show up at the exact time.

No sooner had I thought that did a few others show up. Our captain arrived soon followed by a few upperclassmen. Once again the moment they saw me, they immediately rushed over to see if I was okay. After some more reassurance, they laid off their concerns and waited alongside me. Joe and Eun-Wol then came in a few moments later taking seats next to me. Both of them padded me on the shoulder, knowing I was one of the biggest reasons why this was even happening in the first place.

A few more members came in before the meeting time and together we waited in anticipation for whatever it was that was coming. The moment the meeting time arrived, Alpha showed up. Following him were Beta, Lapis and Lazuli.

He looked a little tense as he approached us, but none of us really knew what to say to lighten the mood. Some of us, me included, could only nod in acknowledgement as he approached us. Of course, it made sense. After everything that occured last week, who wouldn't feel awkward? The whole team and even coach knew so they had to be cautious. Still, I couldn't help but feel a little bad. Besides the ones standing beside him, I don't think any of us were ready to take his side yet.

Alpha shuffled a bit in front of us, obviously nervous at being the center of attention, but that all immediately disappeared after taking a deep breath.

"Hey guys," he started, eyeing me. "So I'm sure you all know what happened last week. I...punched Aaron."

He took a deep breath as if trying to recover from admitting his mistake.

"I was being pathetic and yelled at him for not passing me the ball for the final shot. That wasn't right, but before I apologize there's something I need you guys all to know."

We are stared intently at him, anticipation crawling upon us at knowing something that was negatively affecting one of our teammates.

"There's a guy I know. Will. He's been trying to take control of my life. _Our_ lives." Alpha said, gesturing to the ones beside him. "He's been paying off my friends, beating them, trying to get them away from me. I've lost so many friends, and when I didn't get the ball...I thought the same happened to Aaron. I'm sorry, I know this isn't an excuse but..."

No tears came from him as he spoke, but his sadness was obvious. It was as if he was so used to it that he had no more tears to cry out. He then eyes me with the same sorrowful look still on his face and bowed to me.

"Aaron...I'm sorry. I'm sorry for punching you." He said, before turning to face the rest of the team. "And I'm sorry everyone for causing trouble. I didn't mean it and I hope we can still keep playing together. I'm willing to do anything to stay on this team."

Beta, Lapis, and Lazuli all put their hands on his shoulder in comfort. He obviously needed it, as he was trying to stop himself from tearing up. I could relate to some degree. Apologizing was never an easy thing to do, especially to those who took pride in who they were. Since I understood that, the next move should've been obvious.

Rising up from my spot, I walked slowly and approached them. The four of them looked at me with somewhat tense looks, but stayed silent, which I was grateful for. To explain what I was going to do next...that would've been embarrassing.

It was only when Alpha and I were eye-to-eye did I finally stop. He looked at me cautiously, almost as if anticipating me throwing a punch.

I then held out my hand and gave him a smile while I waited. He looked down at it and back at me, almost in disbelief of what I was doing. Slowly, his hand came to mine and grabbed it hesitantly. I, on the other hand, grabbed it firmly and shook it, letting him know I didn't blame him.

Before I knew it, other members came in, padding him on the shoulders, giving him a hug, and eventually we all huddled around him.

"Everything's will be alright. You worked up the strength to come clean to us. That shows that you care. Everything will be alright. Look up everyone! Looks like our starting striker's back!" our captain said.

Most of us cheered at the encouragement as we finally felt we were together again.

"Maplers on three...THREE!"

"MAPLERS!"

With nothing else left to do or say, we all parted ways, back to where we came from. And suddenly, as I walked, everything seemed so light. The snow, the weather, even myself. I couldn't really explain it for some reason...it was like a weight was removed from my heart. Like there was nothing holding me back.

"Man, you were cool."

I couldn't see him, but based on where his voice came from, Joe was approaching me from behind, most likely shaking his head for whatever reason.

"What did I do?" I asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Walk up to him, firmly give him a handshake without saying a word? Very cool." Eun-Wol chimed in.

I shook my head at them. It was just a handshake, nothing more or less. Was such a simple thing so exciting? Truth be told, I simply didn't say anything because I was caught up in the moment. I think I had a thought in my head while I listened to him apologize. Maybe something along the lines of helping me in my defending to make up for it, but as I walked up to him it somehow slipped my mind. I probably also should've said something along the lines of "it's going to be alright" or something similar while I shook his hand to further prove myself.

Whatever the case though, I was glad everything turned out fine.

* * *

I plopped down on the sofa, somehow feeling tired after the days events, even though it was nowhere near noon. Rose kept herself busy by playing the piano, so far gone that she didn't even notice I had arrived home.

" **Hồi nảy con với mấy bạn đi đâu vậy**?" dad asked, coming into the room in just a T-shirt and jeans. Seeing him out of his pediatric wear threw me off for a little, causing me to take a few seconds to recover before answering him. (Where did you and your friends go off to earlier?)

"Just to the park." I replied. "Soccer team meeting."

Dad nodded in acknowledgement. " **Vui không? Mấy con nói về chuyện gì?** " (Was it fun? What did you two talk about?)

"Ehh...teamwork stuff. Mostly serious things we needed to address."

Before dad could pry further, Rose suddenly halted playing the piano and turned to face us.

" **Ua? Anh Hai về!** " she exclaimed, excited as always before turning back to the piano. (Oh? Big brother's home!)

With Rose finally in the conversation and all three of us in the same place, Dad seemed to ponder a bit before snapping and coming to a decision.

"How about we go somewhere today? **Lâu quá mình không đi chơi**." (It's been so long since we last went out.)

" **Nhưng mình đi đâu?** " I asked. "We've already been to the mall…" (But where will we go?)

" **Thì mình đi chổ khác.** I've already looked up a few places. How about I take you guys there?" (Then we'll go somewhere else.)

I couldn't really refuse, seeing as how dad already put in the effort to look up places for us. Having nothing else to do for the day, both Rose and I soon got into the car and together we were off.

" **Ba ơi mình đi đâu vậy?** " Rose asked, shifting in her seat. (Daddy, where are we going?)

"You'll see."

Rose became excited while I remained neutral. Dad leaving us in the dark wasn't always a good thing. It wasn't like he purposely brought us to a "bad" place, but rather he liked to hype things up just so we could keep him company when in truth it was just a small visit either to the bank or the market. I will admit though, my hopes did raise a little when I saw we were heading down some unfamiliar road. I could see several structures ahead, all bearing some slight resemblance to our home country.

"Is that where we're heading?" I asked, pointing in the direction of the buildings.

"You'll see." he said again.

That was pretty much a yes.

"Mu Lung Gardens…" I whispered, reading the sign as we rapidly passed it by. Before I knew it, much of the light was obscured due to the tall trees blocking it. Of course, since it was winter there wasn't a lot of light to begin with, but seeing trees tall enough to block out the light was usually a rare sight, especially in the city. Rose shared my sentiment as well, vocalizing her awe.

"Wow…" was all she could say as we continued on the road, albeit a lit slower than earlier due to being in a line.

"A lot of people must be visiting here too." I commented.

" **Mm. Thường thường chổ này đông vào mùa xuân và mùa đông.** Since then I've wanted to take you guys here." (This place is usually crowded in winter and spring)

The line of cars moved slowly as time passed, and it took a little longer for dad to find parking, but once he did, we immediately joined the crowd at the entrance and bought our entrance tickets.

Music suddenly became audible as we walked past the gates. Musicians and other performers could be found spread throughout the gardens and surrounded by crowds. Artists and calligraphers also lined the stone pathways, showcasing their skills and work. Combine all that with cherry blossoms lining the pathways, it was like a small paradise.

"Whoa…" was all I could say, too amazed by the things I saw.

" **Ba ơi!** Look!" Rose pointed. "Pandas!"

As she said, pandas could also be seen from within protected spaces. People, mainly kids crowded them, watching in awe as food was tossed to them by the workers. Dragging us over, Rose put her hands behind the glass as she watched them feed. Come to think of it, this might've been the first time she had seen one up close. Of course as always, after she had seen enough, she immediately went elsewhere, prompting us to chase after her.

" **Con ơi, chậm lại! Đừng có đi xa quá!** " dad called, causing her to slow down. (Rose, slow down! Don't wander off too far!)

Still, her excitement was overflowing and we spent much of the day chasing after her than we did trying to enjoy the scenery. Through her energy, we zipped past the deer, peach monkeys and the balancing chipmunks. It wasn't until lunch time came that she had finally relaxed. Dad then bought us some dumplings and dango, to which Rose scarfed within seconds.

" **Chậm lại, con ơi.** " Dad repeated as he wiped her soy sauce-covered mouth. (Slow down, child.)

"Buh ish sho gud!" Rose said, her mouth full.

" **An Nhiên, nuốt trước khi nói chuyện.** " I said, taking the paper plate away from her hands. (Rose, swallow before you talk.)

The loss of her food caused her to pout at me, but at least she knew that if she wanted her food back, she had to do as we said. Taking gulp so big that it was audible over the crowd, she silently held her palm at me, silently asking for her food back. I rolled my eyes at her attitude before handing over the plate, to which she started feasting again, albeit slower as dad had wished.

No longer needing to worry about Rose, I turned my attention to my surroundings. People were still crowding the garden, and as the seconds passed by, more people seemed to be coming in. It was hard not to smile when you saw so many people having fun. It reminded me of the rare times dad took both of us out to the playground when we were younger. Back then I would've never imagined we'd ever afford to go to a place like this. To think those days of living in roach-infested apartment rooms and worrying about light and water were now long past us...

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and silently thanked goddess for where we were now. I could see a faint smile on dad as he brushed his hands through Rose's hair, almost as if he was thinking the same thing as I was.

I continued looking around while on break, watching as people came in and out of sight.

"Hold on a minute…"

Amongst the crowd one of them stood out for some reason. She was wearing all black from head to toe. Black hoodie, black mask, black leggings, black shoes, you get the point.

It couldn't be. What were the chances? You could argue that it could've been anyone, since I couldn't see her face, but what person would dress like that on a day like this? Besides, all the other signs pointed to it. Slightly short and petite, had a phone in her hand and seemed a little frantic, looking everywhere as if trying to locate a spy or a paparazzi of some sort, nothing too suspicious.

"I'm going to walk around around for a bit…" I told dad.

"Don't go too far."

She was only a few steps away, and as I inched closer suddenly worry took over me. What if that really wasn't her? And if it was, how would I even go about approaching her? Do I just say hi? Do I give her a tap and freak her out? One step at a time though, I had to confirm if it was really her before making any more moves.

Wait, hold on. How do I do that?

I suddenly stopped upon realizing how I had little to nothing to go off of. Worry overtook me again and I gradually slowed down in my steps as I tried to figure out what to do. People were crowding her, paying her no mind. That made it difficult as it blocked me from standing beside her. There were open spaces near her, but to get to those specific spots required me to push through the crowd and make myself look like a jerk in the process. Maybe I could find a spot further away and move closer as people moved along? Yeah, that'd be a great idea.

But just as I made my master plan, she moved along with the crowd, completely ruining everything. I made a point to follow her, but remembered dad telling me not to wander too far.

 _No, come back!_

Damn it. Then again, what was I getting so worked up for? It wasn't like we were strangers to one another. I could see her any other time, right?

*Sigh…*

 _Well, back we go._

Making my way back to dad and Rose, dad gave me an expectant look, silently asking me where I went. I shrugged, telling him it was nowhere far. Considering I wasn't gone for too long, he understood easily.

Not too long after, we were back on our feet again, ready to get through other parts of the garden. Seeing the training grounds, and with Rose's encouragement, all of us decided to join in, trying to use the bow and arrows to hit the targets on straw and stick dummies. Rose, of course, being so small and weak didn't get any arrow near the center, but was happy enough to even get her arrows to hit something. Dad, for some unknown reason, somehow managed to get close to if not hit the center target with his arrows. Me, well, I was a little in between. Of course, with limited time, we had to move on to let others try.

We explored some more, though I doubt we were able to get through every part of the garden considering its size. Deciding to have our dinner at the garden, we ordered more dumplings for dinner and ate at a different area in the garden, having one last look before leaving.

" **Muốn chụp hình trước khi đi không?** " Dad asked, having already grabbed out his smartphone. (Do you want to take a picture before we go?)

"Sure." I replied, immediately scanning the area for anyone willing to take one for us.

"Okay. Let's find someone who can take our picture."

Before I could let him finish, my eyes had already begun scanning and lo and behold, it was her again. This time, I had a valid excuse to see if she really was her. Immediately grabbing dad's phone, maybe more hastily than I would've liked, I made my way over to her, lightly tapping on her shoulder.

She immediately reacted to my response and jumped around a foot away while turning to face me almost as if performing a twirl in midair. I couldn't see her face behind the mask, but I was sure she thought of me as some crazed fan who most likely figured out her identity. That is until she recognized me of course.

"Aaron!" she exclaimed, pounding her heart. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry." I shrugged. "I was just looking for someone who could take our family picture."

Her eyebrow the rose above her sunglasses. "And you chose me out of all people? What if I wasn't who you thought I was?"

"Well, I'd still ask for them to take our picture. If he or she refused I would've moved on. I will admit though, with the way you dressed, if I didn't know who you were you'd probably be the last one I'd ask. Wearing all black doesn't really do you any favors in the disguise apartment. More like it draws more attention to you by making you look suspicious." I teased.

She punched my arm lightly at that, but still took dad's phone and got the camera ready. I called dad and Rose over and together we stood in front of her. Dad stood in the middle while Rose and I stood by his side.

"Alright everyone. Ready? One...two...three…"

" **Nhớ nhe, cười đi!** " dad said. (Remember to smile!)

Doing the most natural smile I could, which involved not showing my teeth, I waited for her to finish before I rested my lips. Receiving the phone from her, I nodded my head and said thanks before we made our way out of the gardens.I was able to walk a few steps forward before I felt my hand being grabbed by another, soft hand.

"A-Ah, wait…" she said softly before hiding behind my back. "Sorry," she continued. "I'm being followed again. Could hide here a bit?"

"Still on your break?" I asked, though the answer seemed obvious.

"Something like that…" she replied, still staying behind me. I scanned the area for anyone who looked like they were searching, but found no one. Up ahead, dad and Rose called out to me, telling me to hurry up. Not willing to just leave out of nowhere, I motioned them to go on without me as I'd be with them in a few.

I could feel her frozen breath touch my back as she sighed. I couldn't tell whether it was one of relief or exhaustion, but I decided it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Tiring day?" I asked, trying not to sound too insensitive.

"Just a little…"

I just stood there, half expecting her to expand on why she was so tired, but it never happened. For a while there was silence between us, making it a little awkward. Guess it was better to stop here.

"Well...I better go. Wouldn't want to keep my dad and sister waiting. See you next time?"

She nodded, looking a bit sad through her mask. I felt a little bad too, leaving her alone like that. It looked like she wanted to say something, but maybe that was just me. I walked slowly to the garden's exit, sparing a look behind me to see her giving a slight wave before turning away to the pond. I would've waved back, but by then I was already out of her sight.

On the way home I received a text from her. Maybe it was what she wanted to say before.

 _Hey._

She started.

 _Can I ask you something?_

"Sure." I texted back.

 _Pretend you're doing a job. At first it's fun because you enjoy doing it and you make a lot of money._

 _But over time something happens to you and somehow you don't enjoy doing it anymore._

 _How would you deal with this?_

I blinked and read the messages over several times. This was a serious question. Was something wrong? What was going on in her life? I knew her personal life wasn't my business, but I couldn't help but be curious. Despite my curiosity though, I still had a question to answer. I needed to answer it to the best of my ability.

 _I can't really say much since I haven't worked before but..._

 _I don't think it's right to keep doing something you don't enjoy anymore, even if you make a lot of money from it._

 _So I'd stop doing it and either find out why it isn't enjoyable anymore before doing it again or find something else that's fun to do._

I kept my eyes on my phone, staring intently and rereading my messages to make sure I had everything I wanted to say before relaxing. That didn't last long as I eventually brought my eyes back to my phone to see if I had said anything offensive. What if I had said something wrong? What was it that she was trying to get from asking me this? The worries piled up and the fact that all I could do was wait didn't make it much better. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait too long.

 _Thanks._

"What...?"

That's it?!

* * *

The day after the meeting, we met at practice as usual. Alpha insisted on paying me back for the punch, so I told him he could do so by helping me in my defensive skills during practice. Coach caught on with our conversation and instead shifted practice to meet our needs, having the attackers line up to kick the ball to the goal while the defenders would try to keep the ball away from the goal.

"You guys ready?" Alpha asked, taking a few steps back, readying himself for a free kick.

I, Eun-Wol, and the rest of the team's defenders nodded, prompting him to run up and kick the ball towards the goalpost behind us. I immediately jumped up, intending to divert the ball with my head, but right when I got high enough, the ball curved sideways, easily moving past my head and into the goal.

"Whoo!" Alpha cheered, high-fiving the other attackers before moving behind the line.

I sighed in frustration before taking a few deep breaths to reset myself. Joe was next, and he was just a dangerous as Alpha when it came to offense. I tried to limit the space between my legs as he got into position. One thing I noticed about him was that he liked to kick the ball low, therefore preventing a nutmeg seemed like a smart thing to do. Of course, there was still the possibility to him trying something new, but considering he was against all our defenders, I wasn't betting on it.

When the shot came I leaned down, readying myself for it to come my way. Sure enough, it did and by the looks of it, was also curving around me and towards the goal. Luckily, I was able to read its path and stick a leg out in time, stopping the ball's course and forcing it to go out of bounds. I inwardly celebrated, knowing I at least managed to stop one ball within two tries.

After working on our interceptions, we then moved onto our tackling. The positions of the attackers and defenders stayed the same. Midfielders this time played a role in passing it to the forwards and it was our job as defenders either to intercept or to tackle. Once again, Alpha started off and dribbled forward before drifting to the wings, where I was positioned. When it came to tackling, I knew I had to be careful to to say the least. If this was a real game and I made any contact with him before the ball, I'd be called for a foul and get a yellow card or, if it was serious enough, get a red card and be ejected from the game plus a few suspensions. Since Alpha was capable of playing both forward and striker, that made him a double threat at maneuvering through the defense and scoring goals. I was nowhere near as good with my legs as much as he was, so if I performed a normal tackle, he'd most likely be able to draw a foul or move past me, which left only the sliding tackle as an option. It was a huge risk, but if I was lucky enough, it'd give him a scare and get him away from the ball.

Running alongside him before sliding down to kick the ball away, I saw Alpha jump to prevent his legs from getting tangled, leaving the ball completely open.

 _Yes!_

It was lucky, but it still worked.

"Careful! If he hadn't jumped, you would've injured him!" I heard coach call out, most likely to me since I was the only one tackling.

"Sorry!" I yelled out in response.

"Don't be sorry, be better!"

Practice continued on like that for a few minutes before we switched positions and played attacking roles while the attackers switched to defending roles, switching once again after we've had three turns. As time passed, I realized I had more to work on than I thought. My tackling skills were weak, and as a defender, I needed to be able to improve them if I wanted to keep my starting spot on the team. I might've been a good day at practice, but knowing you had much to work on was a tad worrying.

Speaking of worry...

My thoughts suddenly turned back to yesterday, back at the garden. For some reason, I couldn't get her face out of my mind. She looked so sad yesterday...should I have asked what was wrong?

"Aaron!"

Suddenly I felt my shoulder being shaken. I shook my head and saw myself face to face with Joe.

"Uh...yeah?"

"You down to meet up somewhere to study for finals?"

Oh yeah...finals. If I recall correctly, it was still several weeks away, but Joe and I liked to get a head start so we wouldn't have to worry about it later on.

"Yeah, sure...where are we meeting up?" I asked.

"We'll decide on that later. Probably my house though, or maybe the library. Give me some time to decide. Till then, I'll see you guys."

And like that the day was over. Now where was I again? Ah right, Orchid.

…

On second thought, nevermind. Now I was just making myself look creepy. I had to get myself home and shower to forget all this…

* * *

Other than my bed and sofa, I had to say the shower was by far the most comfortable thing in the house. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt the hot water run down from my head down to my toes, letting the magic drift my thoughts away. As of now, I was still in pretty good academic shape. While some of my grades rose, like Biology and Math, others fell, such as Viet and History. That said, I still had straight A's only this time, after seeing my second progress report, dad shook his head at me at my failing Viet grade of an A minus, silently telling me to be ashamed of myself as someone born in the motherland himself. I agreed, though I didn't let him know that. Since finals were drawing near, I had to hurry and start refreshing myself on the material if I wanted to maintain my A's.

After getting out of the shower, I decided to grab out the textbooks and start studying. Not to say I didn't study before, but with soccer, I found studying time hard to come by.

Flipping through my notes, I realized I didn't find any of the material too hard to understand, thanks to my teachers for explaining them well to me, so after about an hour I put them down and rested, checking the internet for any news. I scrolled through the music section, seeing only old news like new albums from Pacific Rabbits and The Taxi.

Hold on…

Not far from the top of the page was an article with a picture of Orchid, currently trending as it was the most viewed article on the page. Curiosity getting the better of me, I tapped the page, reading the title.

 _ **FAMOUS POP STAR ORCHID SWHWARZ CONFIRMED MISSING!**_

 _What?_

 _What?!_

 _WHAAAAAAAAAATTTT?!_

* * *

 **Anything you guys liked? Hated? Don't hesitate to let me know!**


	15. Worry

**I'm back!**

 **Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

* * *

I immediately sat up from the couch, and skimmed through the article.

"Manager can't contact...not answering calls or emails...nowhere to be found…"

No way. Just a few hours ago she was at the gardens!

I immediately started worrying, feeling my heart beat faster and paced around the living room.

Missing?! Out of contact?! What was going on?

As I paced, the texts I had sent to her last ran through my mind. I couldn't help but think that somehow I felt I played some part in her disappearance. Should I have asked to listen to her? Should I have stayed a little longer? What if the things I said were what made her quit?

I scratched my head with both hands, ruffling and ruining my combed hair and took a deep breath.

 _Okay, let's take things a little slower here and get all the info before anything else._

Rather than skim the article, I instead decided to read it through carefully, making sure this was a legitimate article and not just gossip or speculation.

"...hasn't returned calls in the last ten hours…silent on social media…no word from her bodyguard..." I read some parts aloud to help myself register it easily. When I reached the end, where the writer expressed his or her concerns over whether or not she was in danger or if she was just being quiet, or maybe if her manager was in on the silence as well. Considering everything seemed to be more speculation than fact, I assumed this was just a gossip article. I then noticed the comment section and slowly scrolled down to read the thoughts of other fans. I had to at least see if they agreed with me.

 _Most likely fake. Probably in the studio recording her next album._

 _Yeah. I bet "Silence" is the name of her next album or something._

 _Agreed. She usually never reveals anything about her material except through her singles. This isn't anything new. That said, there might be a new single soon._

 _What if something did happen to her though? What's going to happen then?_

 _Nothing we can do about it. Just hope she's okay._

Many of them seemed optimistic, either calling the article gossip or wishing for her safety. It took me a few more minutes to realize scrolling through comments wasn't going to give me anything useful and soon exited the article. I then scanned the internet for more articles, hoping I'd be able to find something more concrete only to be disappointed. Despite trying to relax though, worries came flooding into my mind. What is she really had been kidnapped? I then shook my head at that thought, realizing it was ridiculous.

But was it ridiculous though? She was a famous pop star who most likely had lots of money. Why wouldn't kidnappers hold her for ransom? I shook my head again wildly and yelled into my pillow to get it out of my head. No way! Hell no!

...

Whoops... I mean heck no!

* * *

I could barely sleep as thoughts from last night ran through my head. Since I had so much on my mind, there wasn't much room to take in new material from class. Whenever I wasn't being called on to answer questions, I spent most of the day worrying over last night. Well, good thing since tests were near, much of the material was review. Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask my friends for notes later in case there was any new material.

The school day came and went, with life returning back to normal again. Well, as normal as things could be I guess. Alpha and I went back to being friends again and together we all talked about new team plays for games and places to hang out if we ever had the chance.

"Something on your mind?"

I looked up for what felt like the first time in forever and noticed nearly the whole group staring at me. Save for Lazuli of course.

"Not really." I replied to Beta, who I noticed was questioning me. "Sorry about that. I was miles away for a second there."

"Well that sounds familiar and very not suspicious, right?" I heard Alpha say.

"Alpha!" the others remarked.

"Hey, I'm just saying. Besides, you worried for me even when I didn't want you to. The least we could do is do the same for you."

I smiled at them, thankful for their concern.

"Thanks, but I'm fine. There's not really anything going on for me. Just worrying about...a friend."

"Oh yeah?"

I took a short little pause, trying to figure out a way to tell them. I didn't know why I felt it necessary to hide it from them that I was worried about Orchid. Was it because they wouldn't believe me if I said I knew a pop star? Or was it because they'd see me differently? It could've been both but whatever the reason, it just felt right to hold things off for now.

"Yeah…" I nodded. "People say she's missing. So I've been worrying since."

"Aw geez, Ronnie." Joe chimed in. "You're gonna tell us you're worrying about something you can do nothing about?"

"Well, I've tried texting her, but she hasn't replied…"

"Then all you can do is wait. Don't lose your head over something you have no control over."

It was good advice, something I knew I should've taken to heart, but I still continued worrying. Somehow it seemed more comfortable to worry over something or someone you cared about than to just sit back and wait for things to happen. That said, their advice did help me realize I needed to breathe and relax just a little bit.

"Yeah...good point." I sighed, feeling my shoulders slump a little bit, releasing the tension I hadn't noticed earlier.

* * *

"Alright everyone, before you leave make sure you grab your test! There were a lot of high scores, as our class average was eighty-two percent! I'm pleasantly surprised! Let's continue on this streak and I hope you guys continue studying hard to keep your scores up!"

Eagerly grabbing my face down English test, I sighed in relief seeing myself just two percent short of a perfect score. It was always relieving to know that sports and clubs weren't really weighing me down. Having to quit any of them due to my failing grades would've sucked, especially after everything that had happened. I also had to keep them up to maintain my scholarship here. My high grades in the past were the only reason I was practically entering this school for free.

"How'd you do?" Alpha asked, patting me on the back.

"98." I replied, probably sounding a little too smug for my own good.

"Well ain't that impressive…" he mumbled.

"Isn't it?" I asked, laughing, holding out my hand, eagerly awaiting the cash that was to be in my hand as a result of me winning a bet I made with him.

"Yeah. Too bad it didn't beat my score of ONE-ZERO-ZERO!"

I froze and processed what he said.

One-zero-zero.

I sighed and slumped down, realizing I was the one who lost the bet and was now 500 mesos down. My first loss, and it was on a pretty big bet too.

"Aw man…" I sighed, slamming the 500 in his palm.

"Woohoo! Victory!" he cheered, running away happily with the 500.

My first loss, and a huge wake up call. Oh well, next time. It'll be on 1000 mesos.

* * *

After our tie with PSG, our team rapidly gained fans and some of us even gained admirers, but we also brought in spies as well. One of the downfalls of trying to reach the top was that everyone else tried to drag you back down. It didn't help that practice was getting a lot more intense as the days went on. We were running more, doing more technical drills and moving at an overall faster pace. Now that we were familiar with one another, it became easier for us to communicate and move the ball faster. Thus, we were doing even more running, busting our lungs until it felt they were bursting out of our chests. Since we already knew each other's moves, it was easy for us to counter each other and reveal our individual weaknesses to the spies. I couldn't even count the amount of times I had to slide down and tackle to try to get possession of the ball due to always being dribbled past, no doubt the spies had caught that. Of course, sliding tackles were fine as I had no problem performing them, but the fact that I had to sprint to get momentum every time I performed one was nothing short of tiring. Combine that with the fact that coach pointed out our individual weaknesses out loud as if he didn't care we were being watched, future games would definitely be a hassle to win.

"They're really out to get us." Joe commented, noticing the cameras. "You think they found any weaknesses?"

I shrugged, not really knowing what to say. Was I a weakness? Probably. Out of everyone here, I was the one with the least amount of game experience after all. But I wasn't going to let that knowledge drag me down. I still had to try harder. Knowing that, I blocked the spies from my mind and pushed myself harder during practice.

With the ball between my feet, I mustered up all the energy I had left and sprinted towards the opposing defense. I remained near the sidelines to keep the defenders away from the middle, which was where Alpha was heading. The moment I was close enough, I used up all my strength to perform a cross. It was a little off target, but close enough for him to perform a header, allowing him to score his first goal since his string of misses.

We celebrated loudly, some even lifted him up in praise for getting past it, glad that we had our main goal scorer back.

As practice continued, the number of spectators increased. By the time practice came to an end, cameras basically lined the field.

"Forty...forty-one...Forty-two. That's the number of people watching us right now." our captain said, as we jogged around the field to cool down.

I overheard one of the upperclassmen commenting on the number of cameras and our captain explaining to him that most likely there were two cameras from each school, each capturing a different angle to help them easily come up with a counter strategy.

"Shouldn't we be doing something about that?" I asked our captain. "Wouldn't they just figure out how to beat us from this?"

"No need. Games may be harder, sure, but it'll keep us on our toes and help us fix what we're weak at. It's better we do that rather than avoid addressing the problem." he replied, to which I agreed with, tired as I was. "We wouldn't be doing ourselves a favor if we just let our weaknesses linger."

After cooling down, we all stumbled into the locker room, barely able to stand after the brutal practice. The changing process was slow as my muscles ached for every movement I made. Looking to the side, I noticed Alpha and Joe not doing much better, as they simply sat down on the benches, busy regaining their breath while Eun-Wol changed normally like practice didn't just happen. Painful as it was, the cold air from the outside helped numb the pain a little, making the changing process a little more manageable.

Somehow getting myself back into uniform, I sat on one of the benches in the locker room, waiting for everyone else to finish in hopes they'd be able help walk me out and ease the ache that was all over my body.

Trying to make use of what little time I had left, I decided to drift off. Maybe they'd wake me up after they were done changing. Taking a deep breath, I slowly closed my eyes.

"IS AARON HERE?!"

Suddenly hearing my name being yelled, I jolted up, nearly falling over the bench. Alpha and Eun-Wol quickly grabbed my arms before my back could land on the floor.

"Um...yes?" I replied, after having regained my composure.

One of the upperclassmen, Toby I think was his name, approached our bench.

"There's someone outside calling for you. He's small, wearing a green hood, looks a little jumpy. Sound familiar to you?"

Green hoodie, small and a little jumpy?

Francis?

"Think so. I'll go check just to be sure." I said.

"You need some help?" they asked me as I struggled to get my butt off the bench.

"No thanks." I replied, not really sure how they'd take me talking to someone from a rival school. "I can go myself."

Somehow mustering enough strength to stand on my own, I stumbled out the locker room and made my way to where I was told to go. Sure enough, I spotted the familiar blazer from PSG along with a green hood and...a doll in his hands? He paced back and forth seemingly in worry, and mumbled things I couldn't hear. It took him a while to notice me as I approached him since his gaze was pointed downward, but it didn't take long for him hear me approaching.

By then he rushed over to me immediately and grabbed my arms, huffing and puffing. His grip was surprisingly sturdy, and it felt like my arms were being crushed even as I felt the soft doll between my arm and his hand.

"Please...you...must...help…" he huffed.

Before he could finish, I raised a hand in front of him, silently telling him to slow down.

"Francis, relax and catch your breath. You can't speak properly like this."

He nodded his head while I waited for him to get in his swallows and breaths.

"I'm very sorry Mr. Aaron, but-"

"Just call me Aaron."

"Ah, y-yes. But Milady has requested to see you!"

"Milady?"

"Yes! Yes! My beautiful Lady Orchid!" He then shoved the doll in front of my face and shook it wildly. It took me a while to focus, but I noticed its white, twin-tailed hair and purple eyes.

So it was an Orchid doll. Why am I not surprised? Wait...

Before I could think, my own hands grabbed his arms.

"Orchid?! You know where she is?! Wasn't she reported missing?! How did you find her?"

My mind swam with a million questions, but when I realized how I was acting, I immediately cleaned recoiled and attempted to track back.

"Uh...sorry about that. Forget it. So...are you going to lead me there?"

"Oh yes! But we must hurry! Her residence is quite a ways away on foot and we mustn't keep her waiting long!" he said, dashing towards the front gates.

"Wait, what? On foot? We're not going to take the bus or anything?" I asked, refusing to follow him.

"Well...unfortunately I have no money so…"

...

"You're telling me you ran all the way here, from where she was staying and back?"

Francis slowly nodded, almost as if I was asking him something stupid.

This guy...seriously?

"Let me call my dad to see if he can give us a ride…"

"Oh, no! You shouldn't-!"

"Yes, I should. There's no way I'll be able to manage this on foot fresh out of practice."

Grabbing out my phone, I dialed dad, hoping he'd be understanding. What was I supposed to say to him? Some girl who I knew was in trouble and asked to see me? That same girl I knew being a pop star? How about needing to rescue someone?

"Hello? "

Hearing dad's voice, I froze up, having completely forgotten what I wanted to say.

" **Ah, con đừng lo. Ba đang trên đường.** " (Ah, don't worry. I'm on my way.)

Before I could think of a response, he hung up the phone.

"Well, that's half the problem solved at least." I commented.

It didn't take too long for Alpha, Joe and Eun-Wol to catch up to us, as they were curious just as I was when I was first called out.

"Yo, so you wanna tell us what went on here?"

Francis looked at me nervously, most likely being a little uncomfortable being surrounded by several MapleStory Academy students at once. I simply nodded at him, reassuring him that everything was okay and he could tell them everything. He brightened up immediately and reiterated everything he told me to them. Their reactions were as expected.

"Wait, hold on. THE Orchid?! Like...singer and all?" Alpha asked, making crazy gestures.

"She was reported missing? How did you know where she was?" Eun-Wol chimed in.

"And you're saying she asked for Aaron specifically?" Joe raised an eyebrow.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Francis nodded rapidly.

"Okay...which means that raises even more questions."

All three of them then turned to me and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"You knew a pop star and didn't tell us?!"

"Man, I thought we were friends! How could you keep this from us and not introduce us?!"

"Are you sure you guys get along and she isn't actually using you?"

Well, so much for trying to hold off telling them...

I noticed Joe, whom I heard from last, raising an eyebrow. Obviously, I could understand he was worried and suspicious considering he and Orchid didn't really get along that well from what I saw. I knew I'd have to face him sooner or later, but at the moment I really didn't know what to say that could help ease the rift between them.

"Yeah. I mean, we've talked several times. She's pretty nice." I said, hoping it'd convince him for the time being.

He raised his eyebrow even higher and scrunched his face as if he didn't know me anymore, but eventually he nodded, though still looking unconvinced. Thank goodness he trusted me enough not to ask further. Still, I had a vague feeling this wasn't over.

Soon enough, dad arrived and I pulled Francis along with me to get in the car. Before I could explain what was going on when we got in, dad took initiative.

"Hello there!" he greeted Francis with a smile. "Off to someplace?"

"Ah, yes sir! Down to near Seoul Plaza please!"

Seoul Plaza, the richest district in downtown. Thinking about it now, I had always wanted to give it a little visit. I'm sure dad did too, considering he sometimes looked at pictures of it during his free time. Now there was an excuse for us to go.

"Alrighty! Seoul Plaza." And like that we were off.

During the rest of the ride, dad tried to get as much info out of Francis as possible in the most natural way he could. I guess this was his way of making sure Francis was trustworthy. Poor guy, it didn't seem like he knew he was being interrogated. Knowing dad, if Francis had said one wrong thing, he would've pounced. Then again, maybe not. He probably knew Francis was no threat based on the way he looked.

* * *

"Whoa…"

The pictures weren't lying. Bright lights illuminated the entire area and people walked in and out of shops constantly chattering. The grass was neatly trimmed and trees were also wrapped in more lights. Heck, a jog around here would've really sounded nice, especially at nighttime.

"Quick! This way!"

Francis's voice bringing back from my thoughts, I shook my head and followed him through the plaza, making sure to take in all the sights I could. I hadn't been here before and wanted to savor the sights, lest I never had a chance to return.

"We're here! Come in." he whispered, sneaking into wherever we were.

"Why are you whispering?" I asked, as I sneaked along with him, not really knowing why.

"Well…" he then pointed to the sign, which read "Seoul Sauna".

Ohhh…

Wait, she's in here?!

There were two entrances with a sign for each. I couldn't understand the language they were written in, but based on the fact that one was written in blue and another in pink, it wasn't hard to figure out where she was.

"So...what do we do now?" I asked, knowing there was no way we'd be walking into the girl's sauna.

I didn't really need an answer as Francis walked over to the entrance of the women's side and called out to her.

"Lady Orchid! I'm here! I brought him with me!"

It wasn't really a yell, but it was loud enough to elicit shrieks from others in the sauna. I shrunk a little in embarrassment, thankful the receptionist wasn't there to see us. I had to give some respect to Francis though, whether it was due to sheer bravery or unawareness, he still had enough courage to poke his face into the women's room. I, on the other hand, would've been too shy and just texted her. If only that thought had come to me before I could stop him.

I didn't have much time to think as soon a figure emerged from the bath.

"Ugh...Francis is this is another one of your signed posters again…" as she walked through the door, I noticed a towel wrapped around her head and her fully dressed in purple sauna clothes.

She then noticed me as I noticed her and stared.

And we stared...

I could faintly hear Francis singing praises to her for her beauty but at the moment...I felt I really needed to say something. Anything.

"Uhh...hi?" I finally started, waving awkwardly.

A few more seconds passed between us, with the both of us staring at one another until she realized what was happening.

She then yelped and rushed back into the sauna, only to slip and fall onto the floor. Francis and I recoiled a bit as we heard the impact. Others in the sauna must have noticed too, as I heard obvious sounds of surprise and worry.

So much for wanting to see me...

 **What to do now?**

 **1\. Screw the sign! Rush inside the girls sauna and help her up! Get her out of the sauna so we can talk!**

 **2\. Wait, hold on. There are other people in the sauna as well. They can help her up. It's not worth the risk charging in there and getting in trouble. I can just wait until she's ready to talk.**

 **3\. Leave for now. Whatever she wanted to see me for, it can wait since she's obviously not ready. If she wants to talk, we can do it through text.**

* * *

 **Anything you liked? Hated? Please don't hesitate to let me know!**


	16. Home

**Once again, a big thanks to those who've reviewed and PM'ed their votes!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Worried as I was, I couldn't just barge into the girl's sauna.

"Madam Orchid!"

Before I could think of what to do, Francis immediately rushed forward towards the sauna entrance, ignoring the sign.

"Wait!"

I then grabbed his arm and pulled him back, preventing him from crossing the line and getting himself in trouble.

"Hold on." I said. "Don't get yourself in trouble just to help her. There are others in the sauna. They can do it. The last thing you need is to be labeled a pervert." Upon hearing the word "pervert", he rapidly nodded and took a few extra steps back.

While hearing her fall was definitely jarring, based on the reassuring voices we heard from within, it seemed she picked herself up rather quickly. Not a few minutes later, my phone vibrated, notifying me of her texts.

 _What are you doing here?!_

 _Get out! People will find me!_

 _How did you even find me?_

Regarding her last text, I was going to point out Francis until my phone vibrated immediately after.

 _Don't answer that._

A little irritated she didn't just come out to talk to me herself, but also relieved to know she was doing okay, I texted her back. This time I made sure to convey a little annoyance and sarcasm in retaliation for making me worry.

 _What, are you acting like you haven't read the news?_

 _And how about a "Thank-You" instead? I actually took time to worry and check to see if you were okay!_

 _But you know what, that's fine. If you don't want me here, I'll leave._

She didn't respond for a while, likely since she didn't believe me, so I huffed and headed towards the door, making sure to stomp so she could hear me. From behind, Francis called out to me.

"Wait! Mr. Aaron, where are you-"

And just a few seconds later, my phone vibrated again.

 _WAIT COME BACK_

Got her.

 _I'm sorry_

 _Don't leave._

Well that wasn't too hard, cruel as I might've been. I quickly swerved around and walked back to where I once stood to which Francis breathed a sigh of relief. Turning back to my phone, I swipe-texted her back.

 _So are you going to come out and talk or are you just going to make me wait here?_

Once again no response came, and for a while I was willing to think she probably hid herself deeper within the sauna. To my surprise, not even a minute later she eventually walked out of the room still in her sauna clothes with a towel wrapped around her head, albeit looking a bit more miserable than I had ever seen her. Her face pointed down and her posture was slumped, almost as if she was being forced to apologize to someone. Rightfully so, in my opinion, wrong as it may have been. Although I finally got to see that she was okay, to say seeing her offer no explanation for the last few days upset me would be an understatement.

While Francis pestered her as she walked out, I, knowing she no longer had the element of surprise, stared at her as sternly as I could. She and I said nothing to each other, though in my case I was holding myself back to prevent exploding on her.

The silence between us lasted what seemed like a few minutes and I started to wonder what the receptionist was doing that prevented him or her from coming back within the time frame, but then again, maybe it was better there were no strangers to make things more awkward between us.

"Hi…" she finally muttered, still refusing to make eye contact with me.

That's it?! I came here worried and trying to see if you were okay and that's all you give me?!

"Hey." I replied, hoping to get more out of her.

More silence.

I grit my teeth and clenched my fists, angry that she acted like nothing was her fault. Francis looked at us nervously, not really knowing what to say. I put a finger to my lips, silently asking him to be quiet to which he nodded.

Looking out the window, I noticed the dark sky and lights around the neighborhood and realized I was on a time table, so I took initiative.

"So are you gonna tell me what's going on?" I started, feeling my heart beat faster as I talked. "What's up with the articles? Why have you been so quiet and why have you been ignoring my texts? I come here worried about you and all you do is act like it's my fault for checking on you?!"

I felt the stress and anger escaping me as I vented out everything. I might've spoken faster and sounded angrier than I wanted, but at that moment I didn't really care. I was too upset at her to think of anything else.

"I…I don't…"

 _Ding!_

My phone vibrated again, but I ignored the alarms. I didn't know why, but I felt I needed to hear this. I needed her answer.

 _Ding! Ding!_

Urgh, fine!

Forcing my hand back into my pocket, I roughly pulled out my phone and opened my messages, eager to see who was it that was ruining the moment. What will I do when I find out? I don't know. Turning my phone off sounded like a good idea.

Emphasis on the "-ed" part of sounded. Past tense.

Why? Well, when I realized it was dad who was texting me, the idea didn't sound so good anymore.

 _ **Con đâu rồi? Làm gì đó?**_ _(Where are you? What are you doing?)_

One of the downsides of dad's text messaging was that I could never tell how he was feeling. Was he angry at me? Worried about me? Or maybe annoyed I was wasting time? Maybe all three? Either way, I wasn't one to take chances. I had to tell him.

Suddenly, it hit me. What was I doing exactly? Dad didn't like being left in the dark. If I told him I was doing "business" with a friend, he'd ask to be more specific. If I were to tell him I was trying to get answers out of a girl, what the heck was he going to think?

Realizing I didn't have many options, all I could do was text back saying that I'd be out soon and he didn't have to worry.

Hopefully.

Putting my phone and away and turning back to Orchid, it was easy to see she hadn't moved a muscle. Dad's texts messages distracting me from my anger, I let out a long sigh, realizing I didn't have a lot of time left and wasn't going to get anything out of this so I turned to leave.

"Fine, don't say it if you don't want to. I'm running out of time so I need to leave. C'mon Francis."

Just as I turned around, I felt her hands grab mine.

"Madam Orchid!" Francis called again.

Her hand shook as she latched onto me. It reminded me of how she was when Rose and I encountered her in the alleyway.

"Don't go…" she whispered. I sounded like she was close to crying. "I'm sorry...I don't have anywhere to go…"

I turned around once again to take a good look at her. Her head was still down, but they way she shook made it obvious she was crying. Upon being grabbed, I stood frozen in place not knowing what to do, and I think it took me a good ten seconds to get my mind back up to speed.

"Nowhere to go…?" I finally asked. She didn't answer back, of course and I was about to mention her home until i decided against it, realizing she probably had a reason to avoid it.

So...no home, currently in a sauna and being called on for help. Great. I had no idea how to deal with this.

But I did know someone who did though. At least I hope he did.

Grabbing my phone and dialing dad's number, I waited anxiously, despite knowing he'd answer pretty quickly.

" **Cái gì vậy con? Con ra chưa?** " he asked. (What is it child? Are you on your way out yet?)

"Well uh...it's actually a little complicated." I quickly replied in english, hoping to convey the urgency. "Could you come quickly please? We're at the sauna."

"On my way."

 _*Click*_

And then we waited. Well, I did anyway. Francis, on the other hand, moved around us frantically trying to figure out how to comfort Orchid, asking her if she needed water or a towel or maybe both. Orchid, on the other hand, stayed silent while latching onto my hand. I felt bad for Francis, seeing as how he was trying to help but was constantly being brushed off. That said, I could sort of understand Orchid's silence. Usually when I had bad days, I didn't want to talk to anyone. Of course, those spells ended quickly when dad always called me out for a soccer game or sparring session.

"It's alright Francis. She'll be fine." I said to him, slowly moving my other hand to pat her back, unsure of if she'd let me. I breathed a slow sigh of relief when she made no motion to brush me off.

 _I hope._

"B-But-!"

"You need to relax. At this point there's not much either of us can do."

Most likely not the right thing to say, as it made him look even more anxious, but he at least stopped pacing around the room and settled down a little.

A few seconds later, I spotted dad dashing towards us until he reached the door to which he slowly opened it, making sure not to break it in his rush. It was obvious he had been running, seeing as how he carried Rose in his arms and took a deep breath as he entered. He then took a few moments to observe the scene, trying to get a feel of the situation. I shrugged my shoulders as he looked at me, not really knowing what to tell him.

"Hey! It's the same girl as last time!"

And of course, it's Rose who breaks the silence.

I stiffened in embarrassment, realizing she didn't know what was going on. I wanted to hush her quickly, but thankfully dad did so before I did. Looking back down, I noticed Orchid had let go of my hand, most likely because dad had arrived. Despite still avoiding everyone, she now faced forward, showing her reddened eyes.

"So uh…" I started, not really knowing how to put everything together, so I gave him the short version in vietnamese so she couldn't understand me. Why? Well, if I were to say it in english it'd feel like I'd be revealing her secret to the world. It wasn't true of course, but taking additional measures never hurt anyone, right?

" **Em đây là...bạn con. Bay giờ bạn con không có chổ ở**." (She is...my friend. Right now she doesn't have a place to live.) I said, to the best of my ability. It made me a little ashamed that it took longer than usual to articulate what I wanted to say compared to how I was back then.

" **Không có chổ ở hả?** " he whispered. " **Trời ơi, bây giờ làm sao đây?** " (No place to live, huh? Oh dear, what to do?)

Despite asking such a question, dad continuously nodded his head as if he had already found a solution. I had a slight feeling I knew what it was. Thinking about it, it was pretty obvious.

" **Bạn con nghĩ sao?** " (What does your friend think?)

I turned back to Orchid, whom I noticed now was watching Rose draw whatever animal came into her head. She was smiling now, helping Rose in whatever way she could. Unwilling to drag her attention away from Rose, I said the suggestion out loud.

"Well, if you have nowhere else to go, then we'll have to provide for you a place to stay."

Rose perked up at what I said and looked around for the potential tenant.

" **Ua**? Who's staying with us?" she asked.

"We don't know yet." I replied. "It depends on her." The moment I said "her", Orchid turned back to us, realizing she might be living with one of us. Despite us still being unsure, Rose's eyes still brightened, excited for the possibility of another girl in the house. Before I could let her speak, I turned to Francis to see if he was an option.

"Francis, do you have a room to spare at your home?"

Right then he stiffened up immediately. "W-Well, my house is small but...I suppose she could sleep in my room." His eyes then widened upon realizing what he just said. "A-Actually no! I um… believe she deserves to sleep in a bigger place!"

He fidgeted wildly, looking at me as if begging me to save him. Well, that left only one option.

"Well, I guess you can stay with us then. Sound good?" I asked.

Orchid then waved her hands. "N-No! You don't have to…"

"It's fine." Dad intervened. "We have room to spare. Enough for one more person, in fact." He smiled at her, reassuring all of us that everything was going to be okay.

Orchid reluctantly nodded, understandably unsure of everything. Truthfully, we didn't have much room. There were only three bedrooms within our house, all of which were taken by one of us so either one of us had to move, or we had to share a bedroom.

I shivered at the thought of her sharing my room, especially if it was my room. Me and a girl sharing a room? No thanks. I couldn't handle the awkwardness.

Still, Orchid nonetheless accepted to which Rose cheered. Obviously, she couldn't understand the weight of the situation and was just happy to have another girl in the house.

"Did you bring anything along with you to the sauna?" I asked, thinking she'd be smart enough to bring some necessities around even if she were to go "missing". She nodded quietly and hurried back to the sauna to grab her belongings.

As we waited I looked back at dad, trying to read his expression. He wore a neutral expression, which was a first in a very long while, but I knew better than to assume he was actually "neutral". A hand came up to cover his mouth and his eyes wandered the sauna as if deep in thought. Most likely, he was coming up with living arrangements for the four of us. Once his eyes turned to me, the smile he so often wore returned to his face.

" **Cái gì vậy con?** " (What is it?)

"Are you sure about this?" I asked. "Taking her in and all?"

He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, silently questioning me on why I didn't speak our mother tongue. I, in turn, tilted my head too and widened my eyes, trying to tell him that this was a serious issue.

" **Ba nói thật mà. Sao con hỏi?** " he replied. (I'm being serious. Why do you ask?)

I raised an eyebrow. That was unusual, as he rarely allowed me to invite friends over back then. Of course, with the places we lived back then, I wasn't sure I'd want my friends within my home either. Still, that couldn't have been the only reason, right?

" **Tai sao ba cho bạn con ở với mình nhưng mấy năm trước ba không cho bạn con vào nhà mình?** " (Why are you letting her stay in our house when years ago you wouldn't bother letting my friends in?)

" **Con nhớ không? Mấy năm trước ba mẹ đâu có tiền. Nhưng mấy năm nay vì ba có việc ba được làm nhiều tiền.** " he smiled once again, reassuring me there was nothing to worry about. Despite that, I was still worried. Nevermind that a pop star would be living in our house now, what about providing her food and water? (Don't you remember? Back then we didn't have money. Since I have a high-paying job now, money isn't aa big issue.)

" **Đồ ăn và nước thì sao?** " I asked, hoping he had considered at least that much when he decided she could stay. (What about food and water?)

" **Con đừng lo. Ba có tiền.** " he replied, giving a thumbs up and winking as if he hatched some nefarious plan. (Don't worry. I have money.)

Well, if he was so sure about it, then who was I to complain? It was dad after all, money-related things were his forte.

Soon after, Orchid arrived at the lobby back in her school uniform and hair tied back into twin-tails.

"I'm ready." she said, and together we made our way back into the car. I raised an eyebrow as Francis tried to cover Orchid's face with his hand while we walked until I remembered something.

 _Oh right, she's a pop star._

I tried to help out too, staying as close to her as possible while doing my best to keep an eye out for anyone who might've seen her. There were a couple of eyes that came our way, though with the way they looked at us, it was more likely they were more suspicious of me and Francis than they were of her. Nevertheless, we made it to the car without a hitch.

" **Trường, để An Nhiên ngồi vối con**. **Xe ba không có đủ chổ cho năm người** " (Aaron, let Rose sit with you. I don't have enough space in my car for five people.)

Rose "awed" loudly at being unable to sit next to Orchid but obeyed nonetheless, placing herself on my lap although she did so rather roughly.

"Alrighty, you mind leading me to your home, Francis?" My dad asked, switching back to english. Francis stuttered a bit, trying to say yes and making it was obvious he wasn't used to talking to adults. Dad thankfully took it in stride and easily found Francis's home even with the shake directions he gave out. To my surprise, he actually lived not too far from school. It seemed like the midway point between MapleStory Academy and PSG. Giving a curt bow, we watched as Francis rushed into his house before dad drove us home. To make this less awkward between us, dad struck a conversation with Orchid.

"So, what's your name, **con**?" he asked, slipping some vietnamese in his speech. "How do you know my son?

" **Dạ, thưa chú con tên là Lan.** I first met Aaron while doing community service."

At that moment all three of us stiffened for a moment before realizing what just happened.

Did she just…?

I saw dad's eyes and smile widen, obviously pleasantly surprised at her ability to speak vietnamese.

"Oh-ho-ho!" he chuckled loudly, most likely also happy there was someone else who could speak our language. Rose herself laughed as well. " **Giỏi quá**! **Sao con nói tiếng việt giỏi quá vậy**?" (Very good! How did you learn to speak so well?)

" **Dạ, đó là vì con đang lấy lớp tiếng việt ở trường học con.** " (Yes, that's because I'm taking classes at my school.)

Huh, so PSG offered those classes as well? That was something new. Who knew my first language was that popular? That said, hearing it now, her accent wasn't bad at all. Sure, she spoke a little slow and her pronunciation of the "T" wasn't perfect, but it was obvious she took the class seriously and most likely had some exposure beforehand, considering she and I were similar in age and all. It was hard to believe how well she spoke even though it was likely she and I were both in the beginner classes at school. No doubt she's probably earning top grades right now. I had to give her credit, considering she was a pop star, I didn't think she took school seriously. Of course, there was no way I was going to let her know that.

Lost in my own thoughts, I nearly jumped when I felt dad's hand upon my shoulder. Turning to my left, I saw him smiling at me with an eyebrow raised like he was expecting an answer from me.

"Uh...sorry, what?"

" **Ba hỏi tại sao bạn con chưa học tiếng việt một năm, mà nòi hay, nhưng sau mươi lăm năm tiếng việt của con dở quá**." (I was just asking how your friend spoke vietnamese so well after learning for not even a year while yours is so bad after nearly fifteen.)

Oh yeah, leave it to my dad to flatter someone else at the expense of his own children. Hey, I might've not lived in my motherland for too long, but I was still confident enough in it to recognize I spoke better than most people!

Giving him a light punch on the shoulder, I looked out the window and ignored whatever it was they were talking about, eager to get home and rest.

We arrived home soon enough, and dad and I helped Orchid bring her things into the house, with me carrying her bags while dad carried her suitcase.

The familiar scent of our home hit our noses the moment the door opened. Wood mixed with the fruity scent of the cleaning product we used around the house. It wasn't strong, but it definitely made an impact once it hit you. It was a sharp contrast to how her house smelled, which I vaguely remember lightly smelling like flower perfume.

"It's a little small..." I commented, setting her things down on the counter. "But hopefully it's bearable. You think you'll be alright?" I asked, worried the lack of space would make her feel uncomfortable.

She smiled at me and nodded. "Mmhm. Don't worry. It's...very nice."

The way she had to pause to finish made it obvious how she felt. I wanted to say something along the lines of "You don't have to lie", but decided not to. Neither of us needed our day to be worse.

"Okay... **thì bay giờ làm sao đây?** " dad asked, after we had set everything down. (So what to do now?) " **Ai ngủ trong phòng ai?** " (Who's sleeping in whose room?)

"Uhh…"

Come to think of it, why didn't we think of that? Before we could reach a solution, Rose thought of one for us.

"My room! My room!" Rose exclaimed, jumping up and down. "She can sleep with me!"

" **Không con ơi, có hai người nằm trên một giường không thoải mái đâu**." Dad said. (No child, two people sleeping on a bed isn't comfortable.)

Rose's shoulders immediately slumped and her face fell. She looked close to crying.

"Aww…"

Orchid smiled and patted Rose's head.

" **Không sao đâu bác,** " she said, kneeling down to match Rose's height."I don't mind sharing a bed."

Dad raised his eyebrows while standing frozen in place, surprised by the fact that he was called **bác*,** instead of **chú** but nonetheless he agreed to her wishes. I smirked a little at his reaction. Not as young as you thought you were, huh?

There was also the idea of Orchid taking one of our rooms and one of us sleeping on the futon, but since she insisted, we weren't in a position to complain. Moving her belongings into Rose's room, we set them down near the closet as Rose offered to help clean things up and shooed us out of the room.

After leaving the room, dad and I looked at each other and shrugged. Maybe it was best we left them alone.

"Sorry **ba**..." I said, looking down and realizing what I had done.

He smiled and patted my head, roughly rubbing it soon after.

" **Không sao đâu con. Ba chỉ lo cho con thôi**." (No worries. I'm just worrying about you.)

I followed him to the living room, not really understanding what he said since it was less about me and more about Orchid. He then grabbed a thick binder and opened it, ushering me to sit down next to him. As he turned the pages, I soon noticed it was a photo album. The photos of myself when I was a baby quickly came and went and as dad kept turning and as he turned, the baby turned into a smaller, more recognizable version of myself. Some people were beside me, most commonly Joe, some weren't. I wish I could remember who they were, but no names came to mind.

"Ah, **đây nè**." Abruptly stopping, he took out the photo out of its pouch and handed it to me. Within it, I saw a picture of myself seemingly taken during middle school.

It was a picture from my middle school graduation. One of the two actually. I took a good look at the picture, hardly recognizing the the boy standing alone looking depressed as he held his diploma. The other one, which was still in the photo album, had the same exact boy, though he was smiling this time as he stood next to his sister and father. The smile obviously being forced.

" **Con nhớ không? Lúc đó con đâu có nhiều bạn vì mấy học sinh biết mình là người nghèo**." (Remember? At that time you didn't have many friends because many students knew we were poor.)

Of course I remembered.

Slowly, my face started to sting as I moved my hand to rub my chest, which was where I gained most of my scars from fighting back. I often yelled at them in my head, asking them what was the big deal. We were poor, so what? What the hell did you expect to gain from making fun of a guy living in a small room while wearing off-brand clothes? It wasn't like we chose to be poor! And It wasn't like I didn't have friends, they just...weren't around often enough. It was Joe who was my only true friend at the time, but even then he had his own friends as well.

" **Đó là lý do ba không cho bạn con vô nhà. Ba chỉ sợ họ chọc con.** " (That was why I didn't let them come in. I was afraid they'd bully you.)

I handed the picture back to him, unwilling to look at it any longer than I already had. As he took it back, I noticed dad's solemn eyes despite wearing a smile. He patted my shoulder twice before getting up and putting the album back where it belonged.

"So does that mean I can invite friends to my house now?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

" **Được** -" (Of course.)

" **Anh Hai, chị Lan**** is calling for you."

Chị Lan?But then I made the connection.

Huh. How convenient it was that both her english and Vietnamese name matched.

Following Rose to her room, I saw Orchid out of her uniform and in her bunny pajamas. She gave me a barely noticeable smile and nodded to Rose, to which she left the room.

"Rose?" I asked.

"It's alright. I asked her to give us some time alone."

"I see. So…? What is it that you wanted to talk about?"

"I just...wanted to say thanks. You know, for everything." Orchid sniffled, as she dug her nails into her palms.

"I…I..."

She tried to talk, but with every attempt her voice grew shakier. I moved to the bed and sat beside her in an attempt to give her company. She grabbed my hand again, and I moved closer to give her a hug. She gripped my waist tightly as her muffled cries reached my shirt.

"Hey, everything's going to be alright." I whispered, softly rubbing her back.

"I'm sorry." she sniffled. "I just...I don't want to sing anymore!"

* * *

 ***** **B** **ác is a way to address adults who are older than your parents, while chú is a way to address a male adult who is younger than your parents. Basically, Orchid indirectly called Aaron's dad old.**

 ****Lan means Orchid in Vietnamese. So both her real name and name she chose for herself in Viet are "Orchid". XD**

 **Anything you guys liked? Hated? Please don't hesitate to let me know!**


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